Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky told the world’s most powerful banker that his country is open for business as they met for the first time today.
Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan said ‘God bless you’ as he shook hands with the Ukrainian president ahead of a sit-down with Wall Street financiers at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
It came amid continued wrangling in Washington over a planned $61billion package of military and financial support, and a day after Zelensky asked his Swiss hosts to organize a ‘high-level peace conference’ amid the ongoing war with Russia.
‘Attracting private capital to rebuild Ukraine is important to us,’ Zelensky tweeted as he emerged from the meeting.
‘We hope that JP Morgan will help attract a large number of global investors and corporations to the Ukrainian economy.’
‘God bless you!’ Jamie Dimon told Volodymyr Zelensky as the two met for the first time
The JPMorgan boss met the Ukrainian president alongside some of Wall Street’s biggest investors including David Rubinstein of the Carlyle Group, Michael Dell of Dell Technologies, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman and Philipp Hildebrand of BlackRock
It came a day after he asked Switzerland to initiate a ‘high-level peace conference’ to bring an end to two years of fighting in Ukraine
Zelensky has not invited Russia to the peace conference after calling for a full Russian withdrawal from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, reparations, and the prosecution of war crimes.
But he pointedly called for China to take part, in a possible bid to peel Beijing away from its geo-political partner.
‘We are open to all countries that respect our sovereignty and territorial integrity at the peace summit,’ he said in Davos.
‘We would want the countries of the global south to be present, for sure, we would want China to be involved.’
Ukraine plans to re-open the airport in the capital Kyiv to passenger planes this spring for the first time since Russia invaded in February 2022.
And Zelensky was keen to play up the resilience of the Ukrainian economy with at the ‘CEOs for Ukraine’ summit in the Alpine resort.
‘I highlighted Ukraine’s economic growth exceeding five percent in 2023, as well as optimistic forecasts for 2024,’ he said.
Zelensky spoke to Wall Street executives in September when JPMorgan hosted an event for him in New York.
And despite executives from America’s largest bank visiting last year the country has struggled to attract foreign investment with its existence hanging in the balance.
But he was joined by a glittering array of money men including David Rubinstein of the Carlyle Group, Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund.
Also in the room was Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman who runs the world’s largest private equity fund, and Philipp Hildebrand of BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager.
Zelensky told them inflation in the country had fallen to from 30 percent two years ago to six percent today, but Ukraine’s financial straits have been exacerbated by hold-ups to a promised $54billion aid package from the EU which is being vetoed by Hungary.
The Ukrainian president also sat down with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan for talks on Ukraine’s current battlefield stalemate.
‘We discussed ways to increase international investment in Ukraine, particularly in defense manufacturing, and emphasized that greater defense cooperation and co-production will increase Ukraine’s self-reliance while decreasing its reliance on foreign military and financial aid,’ he tweeted.
It came as the prospect of further US support diminished with the landslide victory overnight of Donald Trump in the Iowa caucus.
The former president has criticized US aid to Ukraine and again threatened to impose a settlement to the conflict ‘within 24 hours’ if re-elected president in November.
Republican rival Ron DeSantis has also threatened to scale back pledges of US aid which currently stand at $113 billion.
Zelensky also had another sit-down with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan with the war in Ukraine seemingly stalemated
Zelensky insisted that the US president ‘is a choice for the American nation and only the American nation,’ as he was grilled by reporters.
But he admitted ‘radical voices from the Republican Party’ are worrying him.
‘In the time of war, everything hurts more, everything is more sensitive,’ he added.
‘Some of the radical voices really scare the society in Ukraine.’