News date: 7 July 2023
Mikhail Ilyashev, Managing Partner at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm and Roman Protsyshyn, Counsel, Attorney at Law delivered speeches at the II Business & Legal Infrastructure Forum held on 5 July 2023 in Kyiv. The event was organized by Yurydychna Praktyka Publishing House.
Mikhail Ilyashev acted as the session moderator on the topic of Restoration of Ukrainian Infrastructure. The session participants discussed the war-related losses of the Ukrainian infrastructure and the priorities of the state in the restoration of infrastructure facilities.
The World Bank assessment finds the total estimated reconstruction and recovery needs to be USD 411 billion, 2.6 times higher than Ukraine’s estimated 2022 GDP. Mikhail Ilyashev noted that confiscated Russian assets should become one of the key sources of funding the reconstruction. However, domestic investment can also play an important role in the process of Ukraine’s reconstruction now and in the post-war period.
“It is clear that Ukraine will not be able to deal with reconstruction on its own without the help of the international community. Therefore, today we will talk not only about the mobilization of financial resources, but also about new types of cooperation between Ukraine and foreign countries, private business, as well as the seizure of arrested Russian assets. All this will require enormous intellectual and organizational efforts,” – Mikhail Ilyashev said.
Roman Protsyshyn delivered a report entitled Improvement of Mechanisms for Paying Debts to Investors by Ukraine Under Arbitral Awards. Roman spoke about the practice of implementation by Ukraine of arbitral awards of international investment tribunals on claims by foreign investors made against Ukraine.
Despite the war, Ukraine has made provisions in the 2023 state budget estimates for the payment of monetary amounts based on the decisions of foreign jurisdictional bodies (except for payments based on the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights), including international investment tribunals, in the amount of more than UAH 478 million (EUR 12 million). Ukraine fulfills its obligations and pays funds to foreign investors, in particular, under the budget program Payments for the Implementation of Decisions of Foreign Jurisdictions Adopted as a Result of the Consideration of Cases Against Ukraine.
According to Roman, the implementation of the payment mechanism to foreign investors of amounts awarded by international investment tribunals needs to be improved: arbitral awards made as a result of consideration of an investment dispute against Ukraine should not undergo the exequatur procedure in Ukraine.
Business & Legal Infrastructure Forum is an annual platform for expert discussions on urgent issues of reconstruction, financing, and implementation of projects in the post-war reality, as well as investments and their protection. The Forum is attended by the representatives of public authorities, national law firms and business community.