The 5th annual Ukrainian Investment Summit took place on 9th - 11th March 2009 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London and was very well received by all attendees.

Despite the difficult economic climate both internationally and in Ukraine close to 300 attendees from 15 countries took part over the 3 days of the Summit. In many ways, the Summit was considered the most productive yet as attendees received unique and timely information from the panel of experts as to the current situation in Ukraine. The event also provided, as always, an unrivalled platform for networking with key figures from the Ukrainian business community.

The 60-strong speaker faculty was headed up by some of the most renowned and influential figures from Ukrainian and international government and economic circles, including:

• H.E. Ihor Kharchenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom
• H.E. Leigh Turner, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine
• Valeriy Pyatnitskiy, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine
• Mykola Azarov, Chairman, Committee for Banking & Finance, Verkhovna Rada
• Dr Anders Åslund, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Varel Freeman, First Vice President, EBRD
• Sir Howard Davies, Director, London School of Economics
• Hon. Stephen Byers, MP, Chairman, Yalta European Strategy
• Mykola Kmit, Head, Lviv Regional State Administration
• Yevhen Korniychuk, 1st Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine
• Vladyslav Kaskiv, MP, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine on foreign investment and development, Verkhovna Rada
• Anatoliy Balyuk, Chairman, State Securities & Stock Market Commission of Ukraine
• Oleksandr Potimkov, Deputy Head, State Property Fund of Ukraine

In additional, the programme featured leading strategic investors in Ukraine, such as: SABMiller, Kulczyk Holding, 1849plc, Vanco Prikerchenska, Landkom International, Kraft Foods and Astelit / Life :)

And leading domestic corporates, such as: System Capital Management, Smart Holding, Allseeds Group, Rurik Real Estate Investments and DTEK.

As well as respected financial institutions, including: Morgan Stanley, Calyon Bank, Raiffeisenbank Aval, Royal Bank of Scotland, EBRD, European Investment Bank, Halcyon Advisors, Dragon Capital, Horizon Capital and NYSE Euronext.

As always, the Summit featured a wide range of social functions, including 3 drinks receptions and innovative features, including:

• An Institutional Investors Panel, at which the opportunities for investing in Ukraine were discussed by senior representatives of leading private equity players, including: Abris Capital, Advent International, Argo Capital Management, Maximus Capital, Polar Capital and Providence Equity.
• The innovative and cutting-edge SpotMe networking technology once more proved to be popular allowing delegates to make contact with each other.
• Live electronic polling, enabling attendees to provide their views on a number of the key issues influencing the Ukrainian economy (the results of which will appear on this site shortly).

In the coming days, you will be able to view a photo gallery of the event, together with a selection of the international press coverage from the event. Do bookmark this page and revisit it in the days to come.

As always, our sincere thanks are extended to all speakers, sponsors and attendees of the Summit and, in particular to Ambassador Kharchenko and his staff at the Embassy of Ukraine in London for their continued support.

The 6th annual Ukrainian Investment Summit is scheduled to take place in London in March 2010 and we all fervently hope that the economic climate in Ukraine and internationally will have improved sufficiently for Ukraine to reclaim its position as Europe’s most dynamic investment location.

For information on the 6th annual Ukrainian Investment Summit and how you may get involved, contact Stephen Butler or Natalya Zubova on +44 20 7017 7444 or at stephen@adamsmithconferences.com / natalyaz@adamsmithconferences.com .

For information about how to become a corporate sponsor of the UIS ’10, do contact Eugene Andrus on +44 20 7017 7427 or at eugene@adamsmithconferences.com .

For media partnership and press accreditation, please contact Lyudmyla Durneva on +44 20 7017 7339 or at lyudmilad@adamsmithconferences.com