PROSPECTS OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES OF ECONOMIC ENTITIES OF UKRAINE AND THE NETHERLANDS

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the prospects of foreign economic activity of business entities of Ukraine and the Netherlands. Considering that Ukraine aspires to become an equal member of the EU, it requires bringing the foreign economic activity of Ukrainian economic entities to a new high-quality level of partnership relations with European companies. The Netherlands is one of the EU countries whose business entities have significantly increased export-import activity in the direction of developing foreign trade relations in recent years. Given the strong position of this country in the world in terms of foreign economic activity, it is important to ensure the development of such cooperation.

The results of the research established that the main partners of Dutch business entities in foreign economic activity are companies from Germany, Belgium, France and Great Britain, however, the growing interest in the products of Ukrainian manufacturers from the Netherlands in the period 2017−2022 indicates a significant perspective for the development of their foreign economic partnership. This is vitally important for Ukraine, because we do not have a positive net trade balance with every country. In particular, only in 2021, the volume of bilateral trade between the countries amounted to 3,274,622 thousand dollars with a positive balance in favour of Ukraine of 1,250,527 thousand dollars.

In the course of the analysis of the commodity structure of the foreign economic activity of the Netherlands, it was established that it is dominated by industrial means of production, mineral fuels, electric machines, precision instruments and apparatus. From these positions, in the future, Ukrainian enterprises can gain access to high-tech products, which are lacking in today’s industrial production.

Increasing the efficiency of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and the Netherlands should be linked to the transition to a qualitatively new format of cooperation between the countries. Among priority spheres in the trade and economic relations between Ukraine and the Netherlands are such spheres as metallurgy, mechanical engineering, the IT sphere, the oil and fat industry, etc. That is, in these areas of business, it is possible to create joint companies, strategic alliances, economic and industrial associations, etc. This prospect is also quite positive. It should also be noted that the Government of Ukraine needs to focus its efforts on the development of foreign economic activity with Dutch companies by means of signing bilateral agreements on mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries.

Further research should be directed to the search for mechanisms for the development of interaction of foreign economic relations between business entities of Ukraine and the Netherlands in the conditions of martial law and in view of their prospects in the post-war period