Results of the joint study by Active Group and Experts Club on Ukrainians' attitudes toward the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia

According to Ukrainians, the countries of the Arab world take a neutral position in the Russian-Ukrainian war. This became known from the results of a joint study by the company Active Group and the analytical center Experts Club, “Ukrainians' Attitudes toward the Countries of the Middle East and Central Asia,” which was presented at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Tuesday.

“The analysis shows a predominantly positive attitude of our citizens toward countries such as Israel (72.5%) and Turkey (55%); toward other countries of the region the attitude is mostly neutral. Ukrainians have an extremely negative attitude toward Iran (76%) and a mostly negative one toward Afghanistan (52.6%),” said Oleksandr Pozniy, director of the research company Active Group.

In addition, the expert added that Ukrainians mostly have a positive attitude toward countries with which they have trade or cultural ties. This is natural, because such ties promote mutual respect between societies and countries.

For his part, the founder of the research company Active Group, Andrii Yeremenko, stressed that Ukrainians' attitudes toward the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia vary depending on many factors.

“We see that in fact the citizens' attitude is defined only toward two countries – Iran and Israel. These are the countries where the percentage of those who find it hard to answer is below 20%. The remaining countries have a significantly higher percentage of uncertainty, which indicates Ukrainians' insufficient awareness of these states,” Yeremenko stressed.

The founder of the analytical center Experts Club, Maksym Urakin, added that developing cooperation with the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia is very important for the development of the Ukrainian economy, especially in the agrarian and IT sectors. These sectors have great potential for development and can become the basis for a mutually beneficial partnership.

“It is necessary to implement a state strategy to reduce the trade deficit and increase Ukraine's export potential. This will make it possible to create a more balanced and resilient economy that will depend less on external factors. Ukraine can be of interest with agricultural products, IT clusters and educational services. For us, sales markets, agricultural technologies, metallurgy and chemistry are of interest,” Urakin stressed.

According to him, trade between Ukraine and the countries under study is currently growing actively.

“Turkey is the largest trading partner among the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, accounting for more than half of all trade with these countries. This shows the importance of Turkey for the Ukrainian economy,” added the founder of Experts Club.

According to Urakin, a balanced foreign economic policy in the region could not only significantly improve Ukraine's relations with Middle Eastern countries but also have a positive impact on the overall state of the economy.

You can familiarize yourself with the results of the study at the link.