Forming a foreign trade partnership strategy in the context of strengthening national economic security: A case study of Ukraine

Abstract

Economic security is an important factor in the economic development of a country. Though it relates to all countries, it plays a key role in relation to emerging economies in particular. Given this fact, the purpose of the study is to analyse the main indicators of Ukraine’s development of foreign economic activity and to formulate the country’s foreign trade partnership strategy in the context of strengthening its economic security. Based on the analysis of the country’s potential in the sphere of foreign trade activity, the foreign trade strategic partnership matrix for Ukraine was formed. This helped to identify the countries with asymmetric interaction and relatively low potential of partnerships, as well as the most attractive strategic partner countries. The matrix shows that countries such as Hungary, Italy, China, Great Britain, and the Russian Federation are characterised by relatively lower potential for strengthening partnerships with Ukraine, whereas the USA, France, Canada, Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, the Baltic States, Belarus, Georgia and the Czech Republic are among the priority countries in the context of strengthening foreign trade relations. The results achieved have wide practical implications for politicians and decision-makers.