Interview of Ukrainian Deputy Economy and Trade Minister Taras Kachka for Politico Europe on land market reform in Ukraine

Ukraine minister: Land reform offers safeguards to foreign businesses

An impending Ukrainian law liberalizing the land market will offer “additional protection” to international agribusinesses that already operate in the country, Ukrainian Deputy Economy and Trade Minister Taras Kachka told POLITICO.

The new law is still being finalized in the Ukrainian parliament. It aims to lift the ban on the sale of 41.5 million hectares of the country’s prime agriculture land, although it will initially be limited to Ukrainians only. The big change will be that Ukrainians owning small parcels of  land currently leased to foreigners will now be able to sell their holdings.

Countering fears about what such a shake-up could mean, Kachka insisted that international investors will have the same opportunities as today after the new law enters into force. “The question is whether they will have additional possibilities, if eventually we will open market for the foreigners,” he added.

He said that a nationwide referendum on the issue of ultimately allowing foreign land ownership — a plebiscite promised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy — is not yet set in stone.

Kachka explained that there were many farmers from the Netherlands, Germany, France and Poland working in Ukraine.

“They live in Ukraine and they lease land from local people, for four decades already,” he said. He added that the government wanted to provide “additional predictability” for such investors.

According to the new draft of the law, if a local landowner decides to sell a parcel that is leased by a foreign investor, the foreign business will be able to request that the state move in to buy it. The state will then be able to ensure that the investor can continue to lease the land.

Kachka says that this was a safeguard against the land being sold because of “negative attitudes” toward foreign farmers.

The current draft law says that the issue of future foreign ownership is supposed to be resolved in a referendum. The date for the possible poll is not set out in the legislation.

But Kachka said it was still not certain whether a referendum would be needed.

“The referendum should be a policy option, but I believe it’s not necessary to have a particular article in the law saying that something is possible only after the completion of the referendum,” he added.

“If every stakeholder and everyone who is vulnerable on this topic will see that there’s no panic on the market, that the market is developing … then maybe voting in the parliament will be enough,” he added.

The second draft of the law, with all the suggested amendments, is set for a vote at the next meeting of the parliament in February.

https://www.politico.eu/pro/ukraine-land-reform-safeguards-foreign-businesses/