2020
POLTAVA CITY PROFILE
Poltava City Council Department of Economics and Investments Poltava, Ukraine Poltava is a center of science and advanced technologies of united community, which has a common vision for positioning Poltava as an investment attractive, business-oriented, hospitable and interesting for tourists city with a significant historical and cultural heritage.
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Dear partners!
With the aim of sustainable local economic development, Poltava seeks to become one of the most successful administrative centers of Ukraine, improve the living standards of its citizens by creating favorable conditions for business development, increasing the competitiveness of local enterprises, promoting innovations and investments.
The use of effective tools to stimulate local economic development based on cooperation and partnership between government, community and business will allow us to improve business activity, create new jobs and strengthen our position at the interregional and international levels. The main goal of the local government is to accelerate the entrepreneurship in areas that correspond to the priorities of the city's socio-economic development.
Poltava – the market of innovations and opportunities – the city of economically active people, business and entrepreneurs! I invite domestic and foreign representatives of the private sector and civil society organizations to cooperate for common economic development and prosperity. Poltava is the city for a comfortable life!
We are open for a broad dialogue, effective cooperation and long-term partnership!
Kind regards, Oleksandr Shamota, Secretary of Poltava City Council
To get a copy of this document, please contact:
Name and surname: Vita Klymenko Position: Director of Department of Economics and Investments, Poltava City Council Address: 36, Sobornosti Street, Poltava, Ukraine, 36000 Telephone number: +38(0532)563081 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.rada-poltava.gov.ua/
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POLTAVA POSITIONING IN LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL RANKINGS
Poltava is an important industrial, business and scientific center of Ukraine. The drivers of the city's economic development are enterprises operating in the field of mechanical engineering, trade in goods and services, construction, logistics and information technologies. The development of business, creation of a favorable business environment and attraction of investments are the priority areas of the Economic Development Strategy of Poltava City for the Period up to 2027. The openness of local authorities to cooperation with foreign and domestic investors as well as international financial institutions, the availability of free land plots, production areas and labor are key factors in the investment attractiveness of the city. Local entrepreneurs strive to deepen a constructive dialogue with the authorities, start a system of integrated information and consulting support, increase the level of cooperation between enterprises in various industries, introduce a marketing system for local products, and stimulate investment in production activities. In 2020, Poltava was awarded the Council of Europe Diploma “European Diploma”. It is the first step to receive the European Prize. The city is one of the most beautiful and greenest regional centers of Ukraine. In 2019, according to the rating of the most comfortable cities in Ukraine prepared by the Focus magazine, Poltava took 4th place among 22 cities of Ukraine. Poltava was selected to participate in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe within the framework of the project “Strengthening Democracy and Building Trust at Local Level in Ukraine”. This cooperation involves the expert analysis and improvement of the existing Regulation “Participation Budget” and the development of a new modern program of participatory budgeting in Poltava. Poltava took 6th place among Ukrainian cities in terms of e-democracy. According to the Euro-Rating agency, at the end of 2019, the investment rating of Poltava was “above average” (ineC). According to the 2019 Transparency Ranking of 100 Largest Cities of Ukraine, Poltava took 40th place (last year - 81st place). Poltava became one of three selected cities in the digital ideas competition from the Cities Data Initiative (among 35 cities and communities of the “Cities Data”). Poltava city community continues to work on managing the city's microclimate. In 2020, Poltava became a partner city of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Ukraine. In the same year, Poltava joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) Program.
POLTAVA COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
1) convenient location, well-developed logistics, communication system with neighboring megalopolises; 2) developed industry; 3) active R&D activities in the following areas: IT, construction, oil and gas engineering and technology, agronomy, veterinary medicine, health care, economics; 4) high-quality higher education and training (at a reasonable price) that corresponds to the labor market demand; 5) skilled workforce, especially in agribusiness and IT; 6) quality services in the field of health care, in particular dental; 7) wide range of tourist services and products based on the city's resources: historical monuments, including those related to the Battle of Poltava, cultural heritage and Ukrainian traditions, festivals, excursions, hotels; 8) well-developed sphere of cultural institutions; 9) Ukrainian cuisine with Poltava flavor in catering establishments, restaurants with a high level of service; 10) ecologically clean environment: air, water, developed service sector, calm pace of life; 11) kindness, sincerity and hospitality of Poltava citizens.
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ANALYSIS OF POLTAVA ECONOMY
Poltava is located at the intersection of important railways and highways of Ukraine. Distance to Kiev is 333 km. The city is crossed by: the main railway Kiev - Kharkiv, international highways E40 (Shehyni - Lviv - Kyiv - Poltava - Kharkiv - Dovzhansky) and E577 (Poltava - Kropyvnytskyi - Chisinau), regional highways P17 (Poltava - Sumy) and P18 (Poltava - Krasnograd). The population of the city at the beginning of 2020 is 279 829 people, of which 70.6% – population of working age. As of 01.01.2020, 2152 unemployed were registered in the Poltava interdistrict branch of the regional employment center. The city is a leader in the field of safety and comfort among the cities of Ukraine. High rates of development of new housing, modern infrastructure, the presence of a large number of recreational areas, a variety of restaurants and entertainment establishments create an attractive image of the city. The local enterprises are an important component of Poltava economic development. The share of income of the business sector of Poltava region is 78% of the total budget. About 17 thousand people work in large, medium and small enterprises. As of 01.01.2020, the number of legal entities is 11296 and individual entrepreneurs – 16016. The number of business entities in the city is constantly increasing (2018 – 25.3 thousand, 2019 – 27.3 thousand). The main sectors of the economy of Poltava region are industry (almost 53%), agriculture (14%), wholesale and retail trade (about 7%). In terms of the volume of industrial products sold, the Poltava region took 6th place in the ranking of Ukrainian regions. Industry is one of the biggest sectors in the city. This sector of the economy produces a wide range of goods and promotes employment among the local population. However, the volume of sold industrial products decreased (for January-November 2019 – UAH 48976.4 million, for January-November 2018 – UAH 50806.4 million). The vast majority of companies has great potential and seeks to cooperate with foreign investors. The trade turnover of retail enterprises (excluding retail trade turnover of individual entrepreneurs) in 2019 amounted to UAH 10769.3 million, which is 17% more than in the corresponding period of the previous year. In recent years, the city's IT industry has grown rapidly. As of January 1, 2020, the number of entities whose activities belong to the section “Computer programming, consulting and related activities” according to the Unified State Register of Enterprises and Organizations of Ukraine in the city of Poltava amounted to 89 units. Nowadays in Poltava there are more than 30 offices of IT companies and more than 1000 specialists. In order to develop human resources in the IT industry, Poltava City Council received a grant from the Canadian Foundation for Local Initiatives of the Embassy of Canada in Ukraine to support the project “Rise of virtualized employment and freelancing encouragement among vulnerable population in Poltava through training program that includes information seminars and interactive simulation workshops”. Analysis of the business environment in Poltava shows that business support, especially in progressive areas of the economy, by local authorities should be a priority strategy. Poltava became the center of periodic meetings and IT courses: Grass; GDG; IT-Yard; InsaneByte. The city's enterprises are actively engaged in foreign economic activity. In January-November 2019, exports of goods amounted to USD 110603.0 thousand, and imports – USD 278936.5 thousand. For 9 months of 2019, exports of services amounted to USD 23705.7 thousand (of which USD 4455.0 thousand or 18.8% – to EU countries), imports of services amounted to USD 18455.1 thousand (of which USD 4448.5 thousand or 24.1% – to EU countries). As of October 1, 2019, the city's economy attracted foreign investment per capita by 2.6% more than in the same period in 2018 (USD 251.3 and USD 244.8, respectively) – 3rd place among the regions of Ukraine. The volume of foreign direct investments (share capital) in 2019 amounted to USD 64309.5 thousand. The main investors (97% of foreign capital) are Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Russian Federation, and Cyprus. Among Ukrainian cities, Poltava is known as a cultural and historical center. Therefore, in 2019, revenues to Poltava city budget related to the payment of the tourist tax for legal entities and individuals amounted to UAH 1156746.0 (in 2018 this figure was UAH 376614.0).
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