KYIV. June 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian-based Antonov Airlines, one of the world’s leading operators of the heavy transport An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft, and French Bollore Logistics are expanding cooperation in the field of freight transportation by air.
The parties signed a contract at the 52nd International Paris Air Show Le Bourget 2017 to use the Antonov Airlines fleet for transportation of oversize and overweight cargo by order from Bollore.
The Ukrainian news outlet, Ukr.Media, said on Thursday that under the signed contract, the French company chartered one Ruslan aircraft for a year for the transportation of satellites and other oversized equipment.
According to open sources, Antonov Airlines in February 2017 transported a 155-tonne transformer from Brazil to Chile by order from Bollore, engaging the world’s largest transport airlifter, An-225 Mriya.
Antonov Airlines is an air transport division of Kyiv-based Antonov enterprise, a leading Ukrainian developer and manufacturer of aircraft. It is part of state-owned Ukroboronprom Concern since 2016.
For many years, the airlines’ fleet has been actively involved in the international market for commercial air transportation of oversize cargo. The company’s success stories also include strategic airlift operations under the NATO Strategic Airlift Interim Solution (SALIS) program.
Antonov Airlines has seven An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft with a lifting capacity of 150 tonnes, the An-225 Mriya with a lifting capacity of 250 tonnes, one multi-purpose An-74T (10 tonnes), one An-22 Antei (60 tonnes), and one An-26 (5.5 tonnes).
The 52nd International Paris Air Show Le Bourget 2017 is being held on June 19-25.

KYIV. June 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Sawmills with Swedish investment (Kostopil, Rivne region) this year plans to start building one more wood processing plant in Rivne region. The plant will produce pine saw goods for production of furniture, millwork and construction materials.
The company told Interfax-Ukraine that the plant with a capacity of 250 cubic meters will be built in Sarny district. The investment could reach EUR 20 million.
“After the launch of our plant in Kostopil in the near term, the investors are ready to start implementing the investment project in Sarny. We plant that construction will start this year. It will take around two years. Local construction companies will be involved,” the company said.
Pine saw logs of local forestry enterprises will be used as raw materials. Earlier before the introduction of the moratorium on exports of unprocessed round timber it was exported.
“Now Ukrainian Sawmills will process our wood inside the country, creating finished goods and added value,” the company.
The agreement with local authorities of Sarny to allocate a land parcel has been signed. The company said that 65 new jobs will be created, as well as 300 affiliated jobs.
The company said that the plant will be environment friendly, fully automated and producing no waste.
Finnish, German and Swedish equipment will be installed.
Bark left after processing will be used as fuel for boilers, chips and flakes will be supplied to pellet or wood chipboard producers located not far from the plant.
The products will be certified by FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
The first wood processing plant with a capacity of 300,000 cubic meters a year was built in Kostopil. Investment totaled EUR 25 million and 150 jobs has been created. It is planned to export over 80% of the products.

KYIV June 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Refunds of value added tax (VAT) in the first half of 2017 will amount to about UAH 57.9 billion, which is 60.4%, or UAH 28.1 billion, up on the first half of 2016.
This forecast was given by Director of the Ukrainian State Fiscal Service’s corporate taxation department Olena Antipova.
VAT refunds in January-May amounted to UAH 47.9 billion with VAT reimbursement applications placed for UAH 48.1 billion, she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday. VAT refunds paid in April-May alone totaled UAH 21 billion with applications for UAH 19.8 billion.
Some 97% of the reimbursement in April-May was handled within 30 days due to the launch of the electronic tax register on April 1, 2017, she said.

KYIV. June 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – AVE Umwelt Ukraine LLC (Lviv) seeks to start construction of a waste recycling complex with a landfill in Zakarpattia region at the end of winter in 2018.
AVE Umwelt Ukraine Director General Lubomir Kopcik said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday that the complex will be built under European standards with the application of smart technologies. The complex will be located on a land parcel of 35 ha between Uzhgorod and Mukachevo.
“We have selected the land parcel that suits us. We have completed geological, geodesic works, all preparations works and a feasibility study. We are passing all the required procedures… If Lord willing, we want to start construction works after winter ends,” Kopcik said.
He said that waste will be sorted and recycled. The complex would have a bio mass composting department. The complex will press and dispose the waste that cannot be recycled. The landfill would be able to have 100,000 tonnes of waste.
“The basic cost of the facility with a smart technology is at least EUR 10 million. We are ready to attract the money and invest own money. We are in active dialog with European banks, which are ready to give funds for the smart technology with the economic effectiveness,” he said.
Kopcik said that the complex would be a first own waste recycling facility of the company in Ukraine.
As of June 20, 2017, AVE CEE Holding GmbH (99.99%, Austria) and Andelta A.S. (0.01%, Czechia) own the company.

KYIV. June 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s State Treasury Service has sent UAH 473.47 million of budget subsidies to farmers for April.
According to a Tuesday posting on the website of Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry, a total of 668 farmers received subsidies for April. The budget subsidies in the amount of UAH 251.8 million will be transferred to the next month.
“The sum of subsidies farmers received this month doubled. In total, UAH 795 million has been sent to farmers. All funds are sent automatically. Farmers that did not use the assistance of the state could submit relevant document any time and receive assistance,” First Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Maksym Martyniuk said.
As reported, the ministry sent UAH 241.8 million of budget subsidies to farmers for March and UAH 79.8 million for February.
The government allocates UAH 4 billion for the subsidy system in agriculture in 2017.

KYIV. June 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has met with President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim, the Ukrainian presidential press service has reported.
“Special attention was paid to the more aggressive attraction of foreign investment into the Ukrainian economy,” the press service said in the early hours of Wednesday.
The two officials praised the adoption of the strategic document of cooperation for 2017-2021 aimed to support the Ukrainian reforms.
The Ukrainian president thanked the World Bank’s head for the constant support of Ukraine. Since 2014, the World Bank’s portfolio in Ukraine has tripled, or grown almost by $4.425 billion. The main increase was due to budget support projects worth $2.25 billion.
New investment projects worth about $2.6 billion have been started.
What is more, Poroshenko informed Jim Yong Kim on the first results of the reforms in Ukraine, the “achievement of macroeconomic stability and a reassuring trend towards economic growth.”