Aivaras Abromavičius (, born 21 January 1976) is a Lithuanian-born
investor
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...
and politician. He was Ukraine's Minister of Economy and Trade starting in December 2014 (Abromavičius announced his resignation on 3 February 2016). He did not retain his post in the Groysman Government that was installed on 14 April 2016.New Cabinet formed in Ukraine
UNIAN
The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...
(14 April 2016) Abromavičius was Director General of Ukroboronprom, Ukraine's largest defense industry enterprise, from 31 August 2019 until 6 October 2020. He is a majority shareholder of Ukrainian agricultural company Agro Region.
Biography
Abromavičius was born in
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
, but lived in Estonia, Sweden, USA, Russia, UK and Ukraine for many years. He was educated in Lithuania later obtaining a BA in international business from Concordia International University Estonia and
Concordia University Wisconsin
Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) is a private Lutheran university in Mequon, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Concordia University System operated by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS).
The university is organized into ...
. He started his career in finance in 1996 at the then Hansabank (now part of Swedbank). During 2002–2014, he co-owned and was at the core of building a Stockholm-based investment company East Capital, one of the largest and most reputable Investment companies from western Europe investing in eastern Europe.
In 2004 Abromavičius married a Ukrainian woman from
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...
and in 2008 they settled in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, where their three children were born.
After the
2014 Ukrainian revolution
The Revolution of Dignity (), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capit ...
Abromavičius, a Lithuanian citizen, was asked to serve as Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President
The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...
Petro Poroshenko
Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...
granted
citizenship
Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state.
Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...
to Abromavičius,
Natalie Jaresko
Natalie Ann Jaresko (born April 24, 1965, also known as Natalia Ivanivna Yaresko) is an American-born former U.S. State Department official and Ukrainian Investment banking, investment banker who served as Ukraine's Ministry of Finance (Ukraine) ...
and Alexander Kvitashvili on 2 December 2014 to allow them to serve as ministers in the
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
.Aivaras Abromavicius profile - East Capital Management, retrieved 28 Jan 2015
Over 1,5 years, he built and managed the strongest and reform-minded team in the entire government. Under his leadership a completely new Electronic Public Procurement System Prozorro was launched, which received multiple international awards and recognition and saved billions of
Hryvnia
The ( ; , ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 kopiykas (). It is named after a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus'.
Etymology
The currency of Kie ...
s. He also kick started a major State Owned Enterprise reform that included totally new CEO selection process and helped form a new and first truly independent Board of Directors at
Naftogaz
Naftogaz of Ukraine (, ''Naftogaz Ukrainy''; literally "Naphtha-Gas of Ukraine") is the largest national oil and gas company of Ukraine. It is a state-owned company
. He also helped start a Better Regulation Delivery Office with substantial EU funding to improve business climate in Ukraine.
On 3 February 2016, Abromavičius announced his resignation, he claimed that the key reason was a conflict with Ihor Kononenko, who was the deputy head of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko parliamentary faction. According to Abromavičius, Kononenko was trying to install a new deputy in the economy ministry to further his own interests. On the same day, Kononenko stated he was ready to give up his parliamentary mandate should his faction would ask him to do so. Abromavičius also stated that Ukrainian politicians insisted that he appointed at state companies people he did not want to and resisted the economic reforms. He also mentioned that corruption in Ukraine was too strong, and he was not willing to serve cover for
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
. Nine Western
ambassadors
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
signed a statement (published on the official website of the Embassy of Sweden) on 3 February 2016 that stated they were "deeply disappointed by the resignation" because Abromavičius delivered real reform results for Ukraine. He was finally relieved from his post when the Groysman Government was installed in 14 April 2016.
In 2019 Abromavičius returned to the political arena of Ukraine, when he set up meetings for presidential candidate
Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...
. On June 12, 2019,
President of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...
Zelensky appointed Abromavičius to serve as a Member of the Supervisory Board at Ukroboronprom.On 31 August 2019 president Zelensky appointed Abromavičius as the
Director General
A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...
(7 October 2020)) by a decree of president Zelensky on 6 October 2020.Ukroboronprom CEO Aivaras Abromaviсius fired
UNIAN
The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...
(6 October 2020)
Currently Aivaras holds positions of Chairman of the Board in Agro Region, Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy as well as PN Project in Riga. He is also a co-founder and board member of Goindex, a pension fund management company in Lithuania.
Abromavičius is a proponent of
austerity
In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...
, advocating "radical spending cuts" as well as
deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
and
privatisation
Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...