Ukraine should end its state railroad and oil and gas monopolies,

Ukraine should end its state railroad and oil and gas monopolies, Morgan Williams, president of the US-Ukraine Business Council, said Monday at the start of a 2-day trade mission by 12 U.S. companies. “You cannot you cannot have private locomotives – it is holding up economic development, it is holding up grain storage development,” he said, noting the Rada voted last week to retain Ukrzaliznytsia’s locomotive monopoly. On energy, he cited ‘4 to 5’ funds of $250 million each that would invest in Ukraine – if laws are changed to allow production sharing agreements protected by international courts. If these monopolies are broken up, he predicted: “US companies could come in quick.”