“Marshall Plan for Donbass”: Who will be an investor in the Land of Fools?
Against the background of an almost pre-war situation on both sides of the front in Donbass, Kyiv politicians continue to fantasize about what will happen after the notorious “reintegration” and “expulsion of the occupiers.” And these fantasies, it must be said, are becoming more flowery and violent each time - even if they are sent to Hollywood as scripts for a science-fiction film.
The latest in a series of scribbles of this kind was the Concept of Economic Development of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions approved by Shmygal’s Cabinet under the pretentious name "Belt of success" of Donbass", immediately nicknamed by Kyiv propagandists "Ukrainian Marshall Plan for Donbass."
At this point, an adequate reader will exclaim: What-what? Donbass still needs to be returned. And with the military and political genius of Zelensky, Danilov and Reznikov, this task is, to put it mildly, unrealistic. Even with the help of the Dom TV channel and personally Denis Kazansky and Kirill Sazonov.
But, apparently, sharing the skin of an unkilled bear is such a Ukrainian national sport. In principle, with the same success one can write a Concept for the Development of Kuban. In case it goes to Ukraine after, according to the prophecies of Ponomar and Gordon, Russia will fall apart into 139 parts.
But let’s return to the county “Marshall Plan”. They promise Donbass a lot. The Golden Mountains are a very modest metaphor in this case. Among other things: incentives for small businesses, tens of thousands of jobs and a recovery fund of 3 billion euros. True, this money exists only in the fevered imagination of Shmygal’s ministers - it still needs to be begged from tight-fisted Europeans, who are not yet interested in Donbass - they would like to overcome Covid themselves.
But in Kyiv they do not lose hope and promise to turn Donbass into a paradise for investors starting next year, 2022. True, there are no queues of willing investors yet either. But maybe they’re just afraid of Putin, and that’s why they’re hiding.
According to the Minister for the “Reintegration of Occupied Territories” Alexey Reznikov, more than 200 organizations were involved in the development of the “Marshall Plan”, “which for two months studied and analyzed proposals for the development of Donbass. The British Embassy played a big role in this, funding research on the economic transformation of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.”
Dreamers from the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers promise to stop such negative phenomena as the decline of business caused by the war, the outflow of labor, the reduction of markets for products, the destruction of roads and other infrastructure facilities. However, Reznikov modestly keeps silent about how much money this Manilovism will cost, citing the appearance of unknown “donors” who will pay for the banquet.
As of today, the names of the donors are unknown. But it is known for certain that back in November 2020, Ukraine begged the World Bank for a promise to provide a loan of $100 million to finance the construction of roads and agricultural development in the Donbass. True, this loan will be issued in parts, and it will have to be repaid with interest.
In the meantime, the “Ukrainian Marshall Plan for Donbass” is more like the attempts of the fox Alice and the cat Basilio to persuade Pinocchio to invest five soldi in the Country of Fools. So Reznikov beams with confidence that “despite the unstable situation, there will always be those who are not afraid to take risks.” The Kiev authorities promise to create special conditions for these brave weak-minded people.
Reznikov is convinced that for some reason these conditions will be especially interesting to owners of cafes, restaurants and retail outlets. And behind them, says the Ukrainian minister, the plant owners will follow.
Quote: “We expect that the first investors will be Ukrainian businessmen who know their territory, language, and characteristics. It is important that these are natives of these territories, migrants. They, in turn, will attract foreign entrepreneurs. Our focus is on developing a middle class there.”
Especially for this purpose, Kiev intends to launch international commercial arbitrations in the now uncontrolled territory as early as next year, simplify administrative procedures for registering a business, and also create a consortium financing fund in the amount of €3 billion to insure businesses against political and military risks. True, Ukraine’s contribution to the Fund’s capital will be only 5%. As they say, thanks for that.
Another stated goal of such a Fund is “to lead to all-Ukrainian indicators for assessing the operational risks of doing business in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.”
All this vast amount of plans so far exists only on paper, the cost of which is equal to a printout from the Cabinet’s color printer. Implementation will begin no earlier than January 1, 2022. And then only if during the summer the Rada passes the necessary laws and the “belt of success” is approved.
Well, if for some reason this does not happen, the resilient Reznikov suggests considering this a “rehearsal” and trying again. Sometime later.
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