Ports under siege: How can Ukraine keep exporting?

The Centre for Economic Strategy (CES) invites you to join us for our August review of the Ukrainian economy, featuring the special topic: “Ports under siege: How can Ukraine keep exporting?”

The intensification of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure has led most international shipowners to stop calling at the country’s Black Sea ports.

Due to the maritime blockade, the forecast for agricultural exports in the new marketing year has more than halved, from 64.4 million to 29.6 million tonnes. The metallurgical sector is also feeling the impact, with Ferrexpo and the Southern Mining and Processing Plant (Southerm GOK) announcing the suspension of their operations.

Ukrzaliznytsia is searching for new transport routes while also facing massive attacks on its logistics infrastructure and rolling stock.

On 20 August at 16:00 on Zoom (Kyiv time), we will discuss the potential losses to the Ukrainian economy from the maritime blockade and whether there are any realistic ways to keep trade flowing.

We will also review the changes in the Ukrainian economy over the past month. Our regular monthly reports are available on our website, while data visualisations can be found in the War Economy Tracker.

Programme:

16:00–16:05 Opening remarks by the moderator.

16:05–16:20 Presentation of the monthly economic review, CES team.

16:20–16:30 Overview of the special topic, Nataliia Kolesnichenko, Senior Economist at the Centre for Economic Strategy.

16:30–17:30 Expert discussion and Q&A. Speakers:

• Oleksandr Dmitriev, Director of Government Relations at NIBULON;
• Oleh Khomenko, Director General of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB);
• Valerii Kravets, Senior Program Coordinator of the German Marshall Fund (GMF);
• Valerii Tkachov, Deputy Director of the Commercial Department at JSC Ukrzaliznytsia;
• Taras Vysotskyi, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine (participation to be confirmed).

Moderator: Hlib Vyshlinsky, Executive Director of the Centre for Economic Strategy.

The event will be held in Ukrainian with simultaneous interpretation into English.

This event is funded by UK International Development. However, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the official position of the UK Government.