Price monitoring and marketing has been conducted by the Kyiv Chamber of Commerce to assist businessmen in working on the export market.
The first chamber of commerce appeared in France back in seventeenth century. It assisted merchants’ (businessmen’s) work in every sphere, because its structure included highly qualified experts (lawyers, marketing managers, etc., to use modern terms). Today there are more than 3000 chambers around the world and the Kyiv Chamber of Commerce has an honorable place among them, although the Ministry of Justice registered it only in early July.
Its President Mykola Zasulsky says, “The Kyiv Chamber of Commerce, created on the base of Kyivzovnishservis (Kyiv External Service) is meant to foster the development of the Ukrainian economy and its integration into the world economic system. It would be no exaggeration to say that the chamber assists in forming modern trade and industrial relations.”
The Day: “And how do you do this?”
“In the Kyiv chamber, just like in any other, we have all the structures an entrepreneur might need. For instance we issue certificates of origin on Ukrainian exports. In other words we certify that products exported from Ukraine were actually made in Ukraine and not somewhere in China. For instance Ukraine shipped granite totaling approximately $40 million for the construction of the Christ the Savior Church in Moscow. If Ukrainian suppliers did not have our certificate, they would have been forced to pay a corresponding fee thus increasing the contract total by $20 million. In addition to such certificates, we determine the manufacturer (our experts make trips to the enterprises) as well as analyze raw materials and equipment quality, which helps the supplier to guard himself from unpleasant surprises.
“The chamber conducts accounts for reprocessing transactions. For example, our garment enterprises make clothing for export from cloth supplied from abroad for this purpose (we have a relatively inexpensive work force). We certify that the amount of exported clothing is equal to the amount of imported cloth. We also have another very important subsidiary, which conducts world and domestic price monitoring. For instance, a Ukrainian manufacturer wants to purchase a juice bottling line. The foreign supplier offers it at $700,000. We check on world prices considering the exploitation term, its status, and capacity. The line does not cost more than $200,000. In this way a businessman who works with us protects himself from possible overpayments. Moreover, we have a database on world manufacturers and producers from 56 countries. We have representative offices in the transport and cargo departments of the Kyiv Customs House. We also have a legal department and Arbitration Tribunal.”
The Day: “What have you done to develop foreign contacts?”
“We organize business trips for chamber members, we find sponsors, develop programs, and prepare negotiations. On average we prepare 15 to 20 such programs a year. Due to our shortage of funds we manage to carry out only two or three of them. Incidentally, in Great Britain the state covers 50% of expenses for such trade missions, but cannot even dream of this here in Ukraine.”
The Day: “A business group from Germany visited the chamber last spring and in the opening speech you spoke about perspectives for mutual understanding and cooperation. Did it work out?”
“Fortunately, yes. We did find support in the Ministry of Economics of Saxony, which partially covers our travel expenses. Thanks to them, representatives of over 300 Ukrainian enterprises managed to go to Germany for internship programs. German colleagues grant us considerable help, because they understand that we are interested in new contacts and negotiations, and not just tourism.
The Day: “I visited a few small exhibitions in the chamber. Are you planning to increase their scale?”
“Unfortunately, our office is too small for large-scale exhibitions, but we will continue with small ones. We have already planned 12 such events for this year, but there will be more. Also, we are conducting talks on this, in particular with the National Exhibition Center.”
The Day: Can we say that the chamber is an ancillary structure for businessmen?”
“As the matter of fact, yes. But we are not going to stop on there. We plan to transition from examining events to prediction and submitting legislative proposals.”
Photo by Oleksiy Stasenko,The Day:
EVEN THE EXTERIOR OF THE PALACE OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY WILL LOOK COMPLETELY EUROPEAN








