Post-Soviet Economy

In Soviet times, the economy of Ukraine was the second largest in the Soviet Union, being an important industrial and agricultural component of the country's planned economy. With the collapse of the Soviet system, the country moved from a planned economy to a market economy. The transition process was difficult for the majority of the population which plunged into poverty. Ukraine's economy contracted severely following the years after the Soviet collapse. Day to day life for the average person living in Ukraine was a struggle. A significant number of citizens in rural Ukraine survived by growing their own food, often working two or more jobs and buying the basic necessities through the barter economy.

In 1991, the government liberalized most prices to combat widespread product shortages, and was successful in overcoming the problem. At the same time, the government continued to subsidize government-owned industries and agriculture by uncovered monetary emission. The loose monetary policies of the early 1990s pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels. For the year 1993, Ukraine holds the world record for inflation in one calendar year. Those living on fixed incomes suffered the most. Prices stabilized only after the introduction of new currency, the hryvnia, in 1996.

Ukraine's 2007 GDP (PPP), as calculated by the IMF, is ranked 29th in the world and estimated at $399.866 billion. Nominal GDP (in U.S. dollars, calculated at market exchange rate) was $140.5 billion, ranked 41st in the world. By July 2008 the average nominal salary in Ukraine reached 1,930  hryvnias (UAH) per month. Despite remaining lower than in neighboring central European countries, the salary income growth in 2008 stood at 36.8 percent.

In the early 2000s, the economy showed strong export-based growth of 5 to 10 percent, with industrial production growing more than 10 percent per year. Ukraine produces nearly all types of transportation vehicles and spacecraft. Since independence, Ukraine has maintained its own space agency, the National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU).

The World Bank classifies Ukraine as a middle-income state. Significant issues include underdeveloped infrastructure and transportation. In 2007 the Ukrainian stock market recorded the second highest growth in the world of 130 percent. Growing sectors of the Ukrainian economy include the information technology (IT) market, which topped all other Central and Eastern European countries in 2007, growing some 40 percent.

Ukraine is a democracy under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

European Union

Most political factions in Ukraine advocate joining the EU and developing ties with Western Europe.

The Orange Revolution of late 2004 improved Ukraine's European prospects: Ukrainian membership in the European Union was declared as a strategic goal of President Viktor Yushchenko's foreign policy.

Ukraine has set 2017 as the target year for Ukraine's entry into the EU.

The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and a deepening of political co-operation.

Ukraine is a priority partner country within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). A joint EU-Ukraine Action Plan was endorsed by the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council on February 21, 2005. It is based on the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA) and provides a comprehensive and ambitious framework for joint work with Ukraine, in all key areas of reform.

World Trade Organisation (WTO)                                                                                     

February 5^th, 2008 - The General Council paved the way for Ukraine’s membership in the WTO by approving its accession terms. Ukraine has ratified the deal by July 4, 2008 and became a WTO member 30 days after the ratification.

The EU is the Ukraine's largest trading partner and its largest market. In 2006 the EU absorbed 25% of Ukraine's exports worth USD 12.7 billion and provided 42% of its imports worth USD 26.1 billion.

In 2006, the European Commission proposed a new Enhanced Agreement with Ukraine that would include the negotiation of a free trade area to strengthen the economic integration between the two economies.

WTO Membership is the necessary foundation for such an agreement. WTO membership will bring significant benefits for Ukraine. It will provide Ukraine with guaranteed access to the markets of all other WTO members, including the EU. It creates a degree of certainty and stability in openness of the Ukrainian market that will help to attract new trade and investment. It will be a highly significant step in Ukraine's integration in the global economy.

European Football Championship 2012 (Euro2012)

It is one more step toward Ukraine's integration with the EU: Ukraine and its co-host Poland will be the first Eastern European countries to stage one of the world’s top international sporting spectacles – the European Football Championship in 2012. The Union of European Football Associations' (UEFA) decision to appoint Ukraine as a joint organiser of the Euro 2012 provides an opportunity for Ukraine to boost its economic and geopolitical fortunes. Euro 2012 provides an opportunity of historic magnitude for Ukraine to finally plant itself firmly on the global tourism map. Four Ukrainian cities have been lined up as host cities for 2012: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kiev – the capital of Ukraine, and Lviv - major city in a western Ukraine.

Software Copyright Regulation

In Ukraine software is protected by copyright regime. According to Ukrainian law, copyright comprises non-property and property rights.

Non-property rights may belong only to author – a natural person or a group of natural persons. The author's non-property rights shall not be assigned (alienated) to other persons.

Property rights may be freely alienated either to natural persons or legal entities. They include: right to use and dispose a work in any form and in any manner, and right to allow or prohibit the use of a work by other persons.

According to the aforementioned Law copyright protection lasts throughout the author’s lifetime and for additional 70 years after his death.

It should be mentioned that Ukraine is a party to two main conventions protecting copyright: Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic works and Universal Copyright Convention, which are effective in Ukraine.