AOEU at the Ukrainian Recovery Conference – 2025: Economic Revival is the Second Most Important Priority of Ukraine after the Victory

Representatives of the Association of Organizations of Employers of Ukraine (AOEU) took part in the international Ukrainian Recovery Conference – 2025, which took place on July 10–11 in Rome. The Ukrainian delegation included the advisor to the AOEU chairman Oleksandr Kamenets and the deputy chairman of the association Vasyl Kostrytsia.

In their speeches, they conveyed greetings to the conference participants on behalf of the AOEU, the Ukrainian league of industrialists and entrepreneurs (ULIE) and its president Anatolii Kinakh. They outlined the employers’ vision of the key challenges and priorities of Ukraine’s economic restoration.

“Restoring economic growth is the second most important priority of Ukraine after the victory in the war,” emphasized the representatives of the ULIE. According to their data, Ukraine’s GDP is currently around 77–78% of its pre-war level, while international institutions’ forecasts remain cautious: the IMF predicts growth of only 2–3% at best.

They noted that the main driver of growth — government stimulus — has now largely been exhausted. This means that the private sector must play a leading role in promoting further development. As the Solow growth model emphasizes, economic growth is driven by three factors: investment, labor, and technology. In Ukraine’s current realities, increasing production efficiency through the introduction of modern technologies is particularly important.

The AOEU emphasized that labor productivity in Ukraine remains one of the lowest in the world, at around $15 of GDP per hour worked. For comparison, in Poland this figure is around $37. Therefore, Ukrainian enterprises need to focus on technological modernization, reducing costs, and increasing competitiveness, especially in EU markets.

“To achieve a real economic breakthrough, Ukraine must also update its system of training specialists – engineers, technologists and industrial designers. Institutions such as the Kyiv and Lviv Polytechnic Institutes should become centers of advanced engineering education. Enterprises should actively participate in this process, helping to “design” the workforce they need,” the AOEU representative concluded.