Please join us on Thursday, April 16, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Atlantic Council, 1030 15th St NW, for a conversation with the former Prime Minister of Lithuania, Mr. Andrius Kubilius, and Dr. Anders Aslund, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, on how the Lithuanian experience can inform Ukraine’s economic reform process.

Continued Kremlin aggression in Ukraine’s east has forced Ukraine into war on two fronts: a military war to secure its borders, and an economic war to secure its future stability. Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved $17.5 billion in financial assistance to Ukraine. The IMF package aims to stabilize Ukraine's finances, restore growth, and support modernization. The new Ukrainian government, under President Petro Poroshenko, is determined to implement IMF reforms, but reformers face challenges left behind by the Soviet legacy and years of mismanagement of the country’s finances. The Baltic States faced similar, seemingly insurmountable, economic challenges in the early 1990s. Today, the Baltics are the emblematic example of successful post-Soviet transformation. Can Ukraine repeat the Baltic economic miracle?

Mr. Kubilius was Prime Minister of Lithuania from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. This year, he will join Ukraine’s International Advisory Council for Reforms. Dr. Aslund, Swedish economist, is a leading thinker on economic transformation in Eastern Europe. In a conversation moderated by Ambassador John Herbst, Director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center and former Ambassador to Ukraine, Mr. Kubilius and Dr. Aslund will discuss the Ukrainian economy and how the transatlantic alliance can support Ukraine’s reform process. Damon Wilson, Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Council, will deliver welcoming remarks. 

This event is open to press and on the record. 

Join the conversation on twitter @ACEurasia and #ACUkraine.

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