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Seyar Kurshutov calls the Gdansk conference a turning point for investment in Ukraine
20 Jul 2026
At the end of June, the annual Ukraine Recovery Conference took place in Gdansk, Poland, after which the European Commission launched the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the largest fund to date aimed specifically at the country. Ukrainian businessman and investor Seyar Kurshutov, who specialises in international trade, regards the event as a turning point.
“I judge any step that reduces risk not by fine words but by whether it changes this arithmetic. Gdansk, in my view, changes it,” Seyar Kurshutov says. In his words, international capital has for years been cautious towards Ukraine because of war, risk and uncertainty, and any mechanism that lowers this risk changes an investor's calculations.
Seyar Kurshutov points to the figures: the fund starts with 220 million euros but aims to attract far more private capital for every euro invested, with the goal of mobilising up to 7 billion euros. In parallel, the EU announced a first tranche of 3.2 billion euros under the 90-billion Ukraine Support Loan. “This is not one-off aid but the building of a system meant to work for years,” the businessman stresses.
In Seyar Kurshutov's view, Gdansk was a signal that Europe is starting to see investment in Ukraine not as aid but as an investment in its own future.
Seyar Kurshutov is a Ukrainian businessman and investor specialising in international trade and customs regulation. From 2014 to 2016 he served as an adviser to the Customs Service of Ukraine.
