New Orleans, LA, U.S.A. - The World Trade Center of New Orleans International Business Committee meeting on March 13th, featured special guest speakers Hon. Edward T. Hayes, Honorary Consul of Ukraine and Partner, Leake and Andersson; Jim Lindley, Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine; and Denys Krasinov, Vice President, Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE). Hon. Edward T. Hayes gave knowledgeable presentation of the historical context of the current situation in Ukraine. Hayes spoke of the importance that Ukraine sees in joining the EU, and why the country feels very strongly about remaining independent of Russia. Jim Lindley stated that Ukraine has a robust economy and vast amount of resources such as steel and coal, but also told the audience that it is important to understand that there has been a vast number of people displaced, over 1 million people, due to the violent events taking place in the area. According to Lindley, Ukraine is going through a major economic reform, and making changes that must be completed by the end of 2015, in order to meet the terms of the EU accession agreement. Ukraine has a full plan to reshape its economy within the next five years, components of that include the areas of: judicial, decentralization, law enforcement, tax reform, and energy independence. Denys Krasinov states that he sees a lot of potential for the U.S. and Ukraine to cooperate on multiple projects and industries, for example in food production, stating that Ukraine is the world leader in sunflower oil production and many other grain productions. He also said there is big potential to cooperate with American consultant companies, consultants that can work with Ukrainian companies to help sell their products.

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