Thank you to Administrator Power and USAID for organizing today’s event, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for hosting us.

I also want to thank the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, and the American-Ukrainian Business Council for keeping their employees and members safe, informed, and engaged throughout this crisis.

I want to acknowledge Ambassador Oksana Markarova [uck-SAH-nuh marr-CARR-uh-vuh].  Secretary Raimondo and I had the pleasure of speaking with her last month, and she is a tireless advocate for her country here in Washington.

The people of Ukraine are suffering at the hands of Putin’s unjustified, unprovoked, and inhumane invasion.

The Commerce Department, along with the entire Biden-Harris Administration, has taken swift and unprecedented action to ensure that Russia, and its enablers, pay a price for their actions.

Through our Bureau of Industry and Security, we have imposed the most expansive export controls ever levied against another country. Our goal in designing these export controls is to degrade Russia’s military capabilities by denying them critical supplies and technologically isolate Russia.

This involved an unprecedented level of coordination with our allies around the world.

And we’re already seeing the impact of these actions. U.S. exports to Russia of items subject to new licensing requirements have decreased by 99 percent compared to the same period last year.

But the federal government can’t succeed alone, which is why we’re equally committed to marshaling the resources and resourcefulness of America’s private sector.

Already, American businesses are coming forward to respond to the devastation and misery that the Ukrainian people are facing.

Many companies have suspended or terminated their business with Russia, even at some cost, and even when not required by the growing list of sanctions that the U.S., our allies, and our partners have imposed.

And many of your companies stepped forward proactively to offer donations – both monetary and in-kind. Companies are expressing support for their Ukrainian employees and Ukrainians everywhere in both their words and deeds.

This generosity exemplifies what’s best about America – our ideals, and willingness to uphold them, even when doing so comes at a cost. I’m proud of how our business community has risen to this occasion.

Since the first days of the war, the Commerce Department has played a role in facilitating several in-kind donations.

For example, our outreach resulted in a donation of 72 pallets of medical supplies, thanks to the Pittsburgh Technology Council in partnership with the charitable group Brother’s Brother.

Alphapointe, a manufacturer from New York, donated thousands of tactical mechanical tourniquets.

All our department had to do was share a list of specific needs identified by our counterparts at the Ukrainian Embassy, and we were flooded with responses from U.S. companies willing to help. 

To help channel the outpouring of offers from industry, we created a Ukraine crisis website that is helping us to coordinate donation efforts more effectively. That website is www.trade.gov/united-ukraine.

As we saw during the pandemic and countless times before, public-private collaboration has tremendous potential to change the world for the better. 

The challenges Ukraine faces due to this terrible war are staggering. Sustained engagement and support from the U.S. and our allies, and from the global business community, will be crucial to our success.

In helping Ukraine, we are resisting a dictatorship that continually oversteps its borders and seeks to impose its brand of corruption, cronyism, and coercion on its neighbors. It seeks to do so not only in Ukraine, but more broadly in Europe and elsewhere. 

The values of innovation, fairly-regulated competition, public input, and honest courts are not just U.S. Government values, they’re values on which your employees, your customers, and your competitive edge depend, both at home and abroad.

No other business community in the world has the capability and resourcefulness of America’s, and together we can make a tremendous, positive difference for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

Thank you for all that you’ve done.

Now, it is my pleasure to introduce the 19th Administrator of USAID, Samantha Power.