米マクドナルド、ウクライナで段階的に営業再開へ

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】米ファストフード大手マクドナルドは１１日、ウクライナで一部店舗の営業を「段階的に」再開すると発表した。２月２４日のロシアによる侵攻開始を受け、営業を停止していた。（写真はウクライナ国内のマクドナルド。資料写真）
　ポール・ポムロイ国際事業担当シニア・バイスプレジデントは従業員宛ての通達で、「他の企業が安全に営業を再開している首都キーウとウクライナ西部で、一部店舗の営業を再開する」と述べた。
　ポムロイ氏によると、「ささやかでもかけがいのない日常感」を示すことになるとして、ウクライナの従業員から営業再開を求める声が上がっていた。マクドナルドは営業停止期間中も、１万人以上の従業員に給与を支払い続けてきたという。
　ウクライナのドミトロ・クレバ外相はフェイスブックでマクドナルドの発表を歓迎する一方、営業再開には「しばらくかかる」ことを認めた。
　さらに「だが、肝心なのは、政治的な決断が下されたことだ。マックが戻ってくる」「素晴らしい米企業の営業再開は何よりもまず、たとえ戦争中であってもウクライナにビジネスチャンスがあることを国際企業に示すことになる」と続けた。
　マクドナルドは５月、ロシアからの完全撤退と同国事業の売却を発表。ロシアでの事業はもはや維持できないだけでなく、自社の価値観にそぐわないと説明した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/12-12:46）

McDonald's announced plans Thursday for a phased partial reopening of restaurants in Ukraine, where operations have been shuttered since February due to the Russian invasion.
The US burger chain will reopen some restaurants in Kyiv and western Ukraine, where other businesses have safely reopened, Paul Pomroy, senior vice president for international operated markets, said in a message to employees.
Pomroy cited requests from the company's Ukrainian employees for the relaunch to signify a small but important sense of normalcy in the besieged country.
McDonald's suspended its operations in Ukraine on February 24 following the Russian siege of the country.
The company has continued to pay salaries of more than 10,000 employees since then, Pomroy said.
Over the next few months, we will begin working with suppliers to get product to restaurants, making the physical properties ready to serve customers, bringing restaurant teams and employees back on site, and implementing enhanced procedures and protocols to support the safety of our people and customers, Pomroy said.
The announcement was applauded by Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, who acknowledged that the actual reopening will take a while, in a message on Facebook.
But the main thing is that there is a political decision: Mac is back, Kuleba said. The return of a great American company is first of all a signal for the international business of the opportunity to work in Ukraine, even in spite of war.
In May, McDonald's said it would sell its Russia business to Russian businessman Alexander Govor after announcing a complete exit from the country.
McDonald's business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald's values, the chain said at the time.
The action marked a reversal of the fast-food giant's historic arrival in Moscow in January 1990 in what was seen as symbolic of the end of the Cold War era.