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Olena Omelchenko Moderated a Session at Kyiv International Economic Forum

News date: 18 October 2018

Olena Omelchenko, the Head of International Trade Practice at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, moderated a session “Trade Wars and Their Influence on the Global Economy” at the 5th Kyiv International Economic Forum held on 18-19 October 2018 in Kyiv.

The session was devoted to discussing the economic nationalism policy of the United States, the global economy of the future, the impact of automation and technological breakthroughs on the attractiveness of cheap labor, the strategies of developing countries in the struggle for international markets and Ukraine’s opportunities for a fast and technological breakthrough.

With ever increasing frequency the countries begun to resort to the use of WTO exceptions for security reasons, which may entail uncontrolled unilateral application of trade restrictions and, consequently, the loss of values of the international trading system, – noted Olena Omelchenko. – The United States also blocks the appointment of arbitrators to the WTO Appellate Body, which reduces the effectiveness of the international trade dispute resolution system. Most international experts tend to believe that this war was triggered off to change the international trade paradigm. Sooner or later all trade wars end, and the next wave of trade proceedings will also subside. But it will probably happen after the largest world economies agree on and change the rules of trade. Obviously, we should expect the WTO reform”.

The speakers taking part in the discussion were: Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli; Chief Financial Officer, Member of the Management Board of Interpipe Denis Morozov; Managing Director of Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce Emma Turos; Managing Director of SCHNITZER LAW Johannes Schnitzer; Partner of Jones Day international law firm Renato Antonini; Leading expert at Center for Market Economy Development (CMD-Ukraine) Ihor Huzhva.

Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) is the leading international platform for analyzing and discussing the development prospects of Ukrainian and global economy, business and entrepreneurship, as well as for determining their influence on politics and society. Every year the forum brings together well-known economists, businessmen, investors and experts from more than 30 countries of the world.