Ukrainian-Polish economic cooperation

Abstract

Background. Economic cooperation between Ukraine and Poland, the foundations of which were laid when the two countries were a part of the socialist camp, gained the grounds for strengthening and deepening after their obtaining political independence. Poland’s accession to the European Union has made a significant impact on the relationship of the parties, since from that time on working with its western neighbor Ukraine must take into consideration Poland’s membership in the European community and comply with Union requirements and regulations.
The aim of the first publications researching the aspects of economic cooperation between the two countries in the context of its impact on Poland’s integration with the European Union were published shortly before the event. In the following years and until now this issue has been the subject of research not only for Ukrainian, but also for foreign, especially Polish authors.
Material and methods. The complex nature of the work is achieved via creative use and combination of general and specialized methods, including generalizing, analysis and synthesis, statistical analysis, system analysis.
Results. The development of economic cooperation between Ukraine and Poland covering the period after Poland’s entry in the EU has been analyzed. The existence of disappointing for our country trends in the relations between the parties has been discovered: in the period under analysis the trade balance of Ukraine remained mostly negative, and the volume of investments in the Polish economy has significantly lagged behind the value of Polish investments in the Ukrainian economy. The analysis showed an extremely low level of real integration between Ukrainian and Polish economies.
Conclusion. Significant negative trade balance of Ukraine and its considerable lagging behind from its neighbor on the western border in terms of investments in the Polish economy, are primarily caused by low competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy as well as significant backlog of a number of Ukrainian economic indicators. The solution to this situation, among other things, involves the implementation of the competitive order policy in Ukraine, approximation of Ukrainian legislation to the EU standards, the intensification and deepening of interregional and cross-border cooperation.