Representatives of Basque companies have made several trips to Ukraine to make an agenda of contacts and meetings with public and private institutions linked to: health sector, technology, infrastructures, energy and electrification, … as well as others like cultural or socio-enterprise development. These are some of the areas that the next European Union member is already in place even before the end of the war.
although the war continues, Ukraine embarks on major reconstruction plan with the EU support, an initiative in which, through NegoBide Círculo Empresarial, the Basque Country plays an active part, facilitating access by cooperating SMEs and large companies to private commercial and productive opportunities, as well as public tenders of all types and sizes.
Within the framework of the EKIALDEAN programme, supported by the Department of Economic Promotion of Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia – Provincial Council of Bizkaia (autonomous government of the Basque province of Bizkaia), since last year an important task of prospecting and management of personal and professional relationships has been carried out, aimed at identifying valuable information, development options and suitable resources to position the activity of companies in the Slavic markets.
Thus, different work trips have been made to participate in public and private forums such as ‘Rebuild Ukraine’ in Warsaw-Poland, or ‘Kyiv Build’ in the capital of Ukraine, specifically aimed at promoting socio-business interaction.
The BioTech sector develops alliances in Slavic markets
Co-founder of Aleovitro, a biotechnology firm in the field of biology and chemistry, Antonio Laso is one of the people who has travelled to Kiev these days with a busy work schedule that includes meetings with institutions, organisations and companies. His aim is to share information, experiences and opportunities with his colleagues from the Official College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering -COQIQ- of which he is Dean, as well as to represent the interests of the Basque Health Cluster and ASEBIO (Biotechnology companies).
Accompanying Laso on this mission are Ander Hernando Elejalde and Olha Nazarenko, with the challenge of building an adequate network of relations in the country and the focus on business in the biotechnology sector; In parallel, Anastasiia Gryshko and Kateryna Kaminska are exploring opportunities for construction and infrastructure, energy and electrification companies, as well as service areas ranging from the training of professional teams in intercultural and soft skills necessary for better future integration in the context of the European Union, socio-business and financial development, and even the creative and audiovisual industry which, like Euskadi, is also of special interest in the Basque Country, as it is a growing economic sector.
Next steps
Although these are moments of great uncertainty that Trump is fuelling with political strategies that border on the dystopian, the end of the military conflict is drawing nearer every day and, with it, companies are also beginning to see closer opportunities to expand their networks into new markets such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, among others.
‘In recent weeks, companies and clusters from different sectors have been showing great interest in finding out about the possibilities and it gives them great peace of mind to know that we have carried out several prospecting trips, market studies and, above all, that we have an important group of people with very good knowledge and experience that help to identify opportunities while minimising risks,’ explains Kateryna Kaminska, head of the EKIALDEAN team: ‘We have professionals willing to join the work teams of companies in Bizkaia and develop these new markets, and even work independently and intra-entrepreneurship to carry out foreign trade projects or implementation in the destinations. ’
In addition, NegoBide is interacting with Basque and European institutions to provide special support to companies: ‘BasqueTrade of the SPRI Group has first-hand information and relations in the EU through the ProSME project which, without a doubt, greatly facilitates any business decision’, emphasises the head of the project, who also highlights the importance of the Basque Country having a specialised office in Warsaw that provides support in Poland and the Ukraine.
