According to Poroshenko, the legislative removal of privileges for all industries "must be combined with the president's thesis on the need for state support of the automotive industry." At the same time, Poroshenko emphasized, the form of support for the industry should not be tax privileges, but rather the fact that "the Ukrainian market exists for the Ukrainian producer." This, the NSDC secretary is convinced, is "a matter of national state security, since the automotive industry means hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions in budget revenues, as well as jobs in related industries."
Poroshenko noted that today Ukraine is capable of ensuring the development of the automotive industry primarily through domestic capacities, in particular by creating not only assembly, but also its own painting and welding complexes. "The market is growing today by 40-70% per year, and the second task of the authorities is to ensure that the cars being purchased are of Ukrainian manufacture," he said.
Poroshenko emphasized that the current auto salon demonstrates the openness of Ukraine's economy, the strength of its investment potential, since "for just two enterprises, investments in Ukraine of more than $150 million each have been declared, while the total volume of investments is measured at slightly more than $1 billion."
As Minister of Industrial Policy Volodymyr Shandra said at the auto salon opening ceremony, last year the automotive industry produced goods worth UAH 3.5 billion. "The fact that democratization has taken place and wages have increased will add dynamism to the market, and it will become more interesting for the buyer. The government will do everything to ensure that cars in Ukraine move from the category of luxury to the category of means of transportation, which is already being noted," said Shandra.
The minister emphasized that "we do not want to close the market to imported cars," and noted the need for a reasonable compromise: "So that both the domestic producer lives and at the same time every citizen has the opportunity to buy a cheap, quality car." "We would like foreign producers to come to us with investments and create jobs, and we will work on this in the legislative field," said Shandra.
Recall that the 13th International Auto Salon SIA - 2005, taking place in Kyiv from May 23 to 29, is attended by more than 700 companies from more than 20 countries worldwide. Poroshenko's enterprise is considered to be the Lutsk Automobile Plant, although the NSDC secretary himself claims that he transferred all his shares to the management of an unnamed firm.