"And
we, the United States, our allies, and the international financial
institutions, stand ready to support your efforts to improve the investment
climate, integrate Ukraine into the global economy, and put this nation on a
path to self-sustaining growth. As part of this work, I am pleased to announce
that the President, working with Congress, intends to move forward with a third
$1 billion loan guarantee for Ukraine in the coming months," she said at a
press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on October
26.
"This fulfills a U.S. commitment to consider
providing a third $1 billion loan guarantee in late 2015 if the conditions
warrant," she added.
In her words, she had an opportunity to discuss with
President Poroshenko how the United States and Ukraine could use a third $1
billion U.S. loan guarantee to support continued progress in advancing reforms
– including "reforms that will be important to unlock international
investment into Ukraine, and lay the groundwork for a return to growth."
"Mr. President, sweeping economic reform is never
easy, under the best of circumstances, not to mention when you also bear the
responsibility for so many challenges – from managing the conflict in the east
and relations with Russia, to strengthening the judiciary and law
enforcement," she said.
"In America's government and business community,
we fully appreciate the difficulty of this task. We applaud your efforts thus
far, and you can rest assured that the United States stands with you and all
Ukrainians today, tomorrow, and for the long term," she said.
Pritzker says that the most important issue for
Ukraine now is to tackle corruption and conduct judicial reform.
"And the progress that the IMF and the U.S.
government is promoting tracks with what our private-sector leaders have been
emphasizing, and that was repeated in our conversations today with the
president, which is a frank discussion about everything from energy reform, to
capital controls, to taxation, to the most important issue, which is to address
corruption and judicial reform. And the United States believes in Ukraine and
is supporting Ukraine as it goes through this very challenging period of
repositioning itself to be part of the world economy, and we stand with them,
and have done so to date and will do so in the future," she said.
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