voa标准英语2008年-Ukrainian Business - East or West?

Oleh Lohvinov is director of the Konti Confection Company in the eastern city of Donetsk.

Konti's $90 million sales in Russia in the first half of 2008 slightly exceeded those in Ukraine.

Lohvinov says Konti's priority is to expand in Ukraine, Russia, China and other post-Soviet markets, instead of the European Union.
　






Oleh Lohvinov

Lohvinov says the European market has long been saturated 4 and stabilized 5, adding that it takes colossal 6 amounts of capital to establish and distribute a brand in the European market.

The businessman notes there are a number of countries where he can spend less and get a better result.

High-speed machines at RosanPak mold various types of containers for cakes, ice cream or anything a producer may want to package in plastic.
　






Yevhen Bisovsky

Director Yevhen Bisovsky says less than one-fourth of the company's sales are in the European Union. He adds that the so-called Shengen Customs Zone, the strict EU border-control arrangement, makes it difficult for Ukrainian business to expand westward 7.

For a RosanPak employee to head west, says Bisovsky, he needs a visa; initially 8 for a month, then three months, and half a year.

The businessman says there is no such thing as a five-year Shengen Zone visa, which would allow a RosanPak representative to enter and work the EU market. Instead, he needs an invitation, and must wait in very long lines at consulates 9 each time.
　






Employees at the RosanPak Packaging Company in the western city of Lviv, Ukraine

Trucks that deliver cargo 10 to the European Union often get stuck for days at Ukraine's western borders because of the lack of streamlined customs procedures and a shortage of crossing points.
　






Anatoly Ruchka

Ukrainian truck driver Anatoly Ruchka of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has driven in both directions. He agrees with the assessment 11 of businesspeople, who give roads in the West high marks compared to those in Ukraine and Russia.

Ruchka also notes how well roads in the West are maintained, how clean they are and how well drivers are treated. In Russia, he says, Ukrainian drivers are also referred to in the pejorative 12 "khokhol," unlike the West where drivers are treated equally regardless of their nationality."
　

Some Ukrainians fear Russian investment will also bring unwelcome



 


Yuri Pukalsky



Russian cultural influence to the country. Yuri Pukalsky, vice 13 president of the Lviv Chamber 14 of Commerce, says that may happen, but should not be feared.

Pukalsky says Ukrainians themselves should become stronger, and then Russian influences will not be so frightening. That way, he adds, Russian money will work for the Ukrainian economy, but he repeats - it is up to Ukrainians to become stronger.
　






Hennadi Chizhikov

Pukalsky's counterpart in Donetsk, Hennadi Chizhikov, says Ukrainian businesspeople are doing just that, not only recognizing Russian competition, but developing a sense of national identity to meet foreign competitors head on.

Chizhikov says he likes the fact that Ukrainian retailers 15 are beginning to form associations. He calls that an example of emerging civil society in Ukraine.

But a lot remains 16 to be done before Ukrainian business is fully 17 able to compete, not least of which is the enactment 18 of economic reforms now stymied 19 by political infighting in Kyiv, as struggles between the president and prime minister spill over into a parliament that cannot pass much-needed legislation.