Guide to Ukraine
helpful information for foreign visitors
www.softheme.com

Table of Contents
Ukraine:
Kiev, the capital:

• General information
• Arriving in Kiev
• Top hotels
• Public transport
• Restaurants
• Sightseeing
• Mailing and calling
• Car rental
• Foreign embassies
• General information
• Time zone
• Public holidays
• Political system
• Banking system
• Education in Ukraine
• IT outsourcing
• Visas and customs

www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: General information

• Second-largest country in Europe after Russia
• Population: 45.7 million (2009 est.)
• Workforce: 23 million (2009 est.)
• Situated in the heart of Europe:
• strategic position between Europe and Asia on the intersection of major transport and trade routes

www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: Time zone

• Ukrainian time zone is GMT +2 hours
• Time difference between Ukraine and other countries has become a significant advantage for IT outsourcing
• Ukrainian time zone also provides effective use of proximity to Western European countries:
• air flights to major European capitals take from 1 to 4 hours

Table 1.1: Time difference between Ukraine and other locations
www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: Public holidays
Calendar 2010: Public Holidays in Ukraine

• Ukraines public holidays in 2010:
• January 1 New Years Day
• January 7 Orthodox Christmas Day
• March 8 International Womens Day
• April 4 Orthodox Easter
• May 1-2 International Labor
• May 9 Victory Day
• May 23 Orthodox Pentecost
• June 28 Constitution Day
• August 24 Ukrainian Independence Day

* In red public holidays and the days off transferred to Mondays or Tuesdays.
www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: Political system

• The powers of the government of Ukraine are specified by the Constitution of Ukraine and are divided into three branches:

The legislative the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council of Ukraine):

• consists of 450 peoples deputies who are elected for a term of 4 years
• the majority of seats in Verkhovna Rada are held by:

The executive the Cabinet of Ministers:

• responsible to the President of Ukraine

The judicial the Supreme Court of Ukraine
and
Party of Regions
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc
www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: Banking system

• TheUkrainian banking system is a two-tier structure consisting of the:

National Bank of Ukraine
Commercial banks of various types and forms of ownership, including:

• the state-owned Export-Import Bank
• specialized commercial Savings Bank
• As of January 1, 1998, the banking system of Ukraine has transferred to the international accounting and statistics standards
• The official currency of Ukraine is Hryvnia

Table 2.1: Popular currency exchange rates (as of April 6, 2010)
www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: Education

• Ranked 32nd in Education on the 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index of 104 countries
• About 70% of adult population have secondary or higher education
• Nearly 60% of Ukrainian universities have graduates with majors in physics, mathematics and programming

Table 3.1: Sources of IT Employees in Ukraine
www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: IT outsourcing

• Ukraine has become an attractive outsourcing destination for many companies around the world, due to :
• growing pool of qualified human resources
• European mentality
• competitive outsourcing rates
• Outsourcing accounts for more than 70% of software development work in UA
• Steady growth of IT outsourcing market in the past 5 years
• Ranked 4th after Russia with almost 40% growth and over $3.4 billion in volume in 2007
• The highest IT industry growth rate among CEE countries in 2007

www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Ukraine: Visas and customs

• The citizens of the following countries can enter Ukraine visa-free and stay up to 90 days:
• the countries of EU, Andorra, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Mongolia, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, the USA, Vatican, and the countries of the CIS
• What you can import free of customs duties and taxes:

goods valued less than 200
200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250 grams of tobacco
1 liter of hard alcohol
food products valued no more than 50
2 liters of wine
www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Kiev: General information

• Kiev (also spelled Kyiv) is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine located on the Dnieper River
• Population: 2.8 million (2009 est.)
• Ethnic composition of inhabitants:
• Ukrainians (70%)
• Russians (20%)
• others (10%)

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

• Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural centre of Eastern Europe
• Has an extensive infrastructure and highly developed system of public transport, including the Kiev Metro (subway)

www.softheme.com Outsourcing to Softheme Guide to Ukraine: helpful information for foreign visitors

Kiev: Arriving in Kiev

• Kiev offers four main ways