As an international financial hub, Luxembourg is seen as well positioned to play a key role in talks about strengthening and financing the recovery of Ukraine’s economy once the war is over. A Luxembourg roundtable will discuss Luxembourg’s potential role and seeks to create a number of expert-based working groups.
Under the title “Derisking of Ukraine Recovery Landscape”, the roundtable will bring together a wide range of private sector representatives from Luxembourg as well as Ukraine-based stakeholders, said the organisers. The objective is to create working groups of experts that will identify challenges and map possible next steps.
Funds AML
The event is an initiative by Luxembourg-based compliance specialist Valeriia Kotsur. Kotsur, a Ukrainian native from the city of Cherson who came to Luxembourg six years ago, also is co-founder of Funds AML, an anti-money laundering and Know Your Assets compliance advisory for asset management firms in the grand duchy.
“The idea is to actually gather the stakeholders who can put up the proper structure and proper oversight and governance for everything that will be connected to Ukraine recovery,” Kotsur told Investment Officer. “Luxembourg is logistically the best place to do so.”
Luxembourg vehicles
Luxembourg “will be, of course, the place where all the investment firms or the fund the funds or whatever vehicles available there will be created,” she said, adding that the roundtable seeks to create specific working groups on for instance, ESG, green bonds, government debt, the legal framework, and for instance private equity formation, fund-of-funds, and innovation startups.
Kotsur said she sees particular potential in investing in digital projects for Ukraine, given its rapid uptake of online services and projects following last year’s invasion by Russia. The widespread adoption of SET University as a national online learning platform is but one example. This university encourages students to create their own businesses, the proceeds of which they can use to pay their tuition fees after graduation.
“There has been a clear shift towards digital,” said Kotsur. “It’s about cybersecurity. It’s about tech. It’s about IT.”
Bettel committed
The roundtable initiative is a direct follow-up to the Ukraine-Luxembourg Business Forum which recently brought together public and private sector representatives at the initiative of the Ukraine-Luxembourg Business Club. Speaking there in the online presence of Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal, the grand duchy’s prime minister Xavier Bettel underlined his committed support.
“I reiterated that Luxembourg’s solidarity holds and that we will continue our political, humanitarian and military support,” Bettel said in a tweet on 31 January, following the Ukraine-Luxembourg business forum.
While the topic of economic recovery is being discussed at events like the Business Forum and also by the Ukraine government, the discussions lack “face to face input” from technical experts, Kotsur said. “There is no proper follow-up,” she said.
The 22 February roundtable will first hear from a number of Ukrainian speakers, including representatives of Ukraine’s financial sector, such as the Ukraine Reconstruction Fund, UkraineInves, Ukraine Startup Fund and the Ukraine Recovery Committee of the European Business Association, an initiative supported by the European Commission.
Hesitation
A number financial sector associations in Luxembourg have already confirmed their participation, but not all. Kotsur, whose parents have fled Ukraine and now live with her in the grand duchy, regretted to still see some hesitation. “They are really cautious about this. They feel it’s political, and don’t want to be involved,” said Kotsur, without naming particular associations.
Still, Kotsur is convinced that Luxembourg has a role to play, also given the prominent presence of the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, both of which are already financing specific Ukraine projects. “Luxembourg is the place to make investment funds and investment vehicles, or form the specific tools needed to invest in Ukraine later on.”