KYIV. April 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – During the consultations with Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal held on March 31, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Vincenzo Amendola stressed Italy’s interest in strengthening mutually beneficial relations with Ukraine in economic sphere, in particular in the field of energy and small and medium enterprises, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on its website.
“In this view, both sides emphasized the significance of holding the next meeting of the Ukrainian-Italian Council on Economic, Industrial and Financial Cooperation,” the report reads.
Zerkal stressed that Ukraine’s cooperation with Italy is getting a special meaning particularly in terms of vast prospects both for bilateral interaction and in the European context.
Amendola also said that Italy hasn’t changed its position on keeping the EU sanctions against Russia in place, noting the importance of the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements.
KYIV. April 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Germany’s KfW bank will provide EUR 300 million to Ukraine to support financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the country.
According to a press release of the German-Ukrainian fund (GUF), the agreement will be signed by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Finance Ministry of Ukraine and KfW in Kyiv on April 4.
The details of the program will be published after the signing of the agreement.
The German-Ukrainian fund was created in 1999. Its founders are the NBU, Finance Ministry and KfW.
Business non-governmental organizations (NGOs), medical workers and scientists demand that the Ukrainian government propose a national strategy for developing Ukraine’s health care system and involve professionals in the review of the state of health care. A respective address was sent to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers following debates at the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE).
The document was signed by the heads of the ULIE, the Federation of Employers in the Health Care Sector, the National Academy of Medical Sciences, the League of Insurance Organizations, the Heart Institute under the Health Ministry of Ukraine, the Trade Union of Health Care Workers of Ukraine, and others.
The next step should be the creation of an expert council under the Cabinet of Ministers for the development of a national strategy. The latter should clearly define national policy on health care, form the basis for drafting detailed programs, specifying technology, human resources, infrastructure, and the sources of funding that will be involved.
The document stresses the need for a clear analysis of the current state of the health care sector in Ukraine and the health of its citizens. Its findings will become the basis of an annual national report.
Health care workers and their partners from NGOs hope for the beginning of joint work with government officials and parliamentarians in health care reform.
Bilateral and mutually responsible dialogue between the government and the industrial community with experts and business representatives is crucial for the formation of public policy. It is feedback from civil society, experts that makes government decisions efficient and ensures their detailed feasibility research and forecasts for possible consequences. This was discussed at a meeting of the business association consisting of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE), the Association of Employers’ Organizations, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Council of Entrepreneurs under the Cabinet of Ministers with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
“We’ve shared our vision of the social and economic situation in the country, concerns about de-industrialization trends, and the loss of high-tech industries. The prime minister supported our commitment to strengthen industrial policy, to make cooperation in this area between the government, the National Bank and businesses more efficient,” ULIE President and head of the Association of Employers’ Organizations Anatoliy Kinakh has said.
Representatives of the business community noted a further deterioration in professionalism at the ministries and agencies, which is seen across the entire executive branch of power. These circumstances, in their opinion, hinder the development of high-quality and modern economic policy.
The sides also discussed the situation with tariffs and prices in the country. Members of the public stress that the national regulators, including the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (NERC), should pay much more attention to feasibility study on the tariffs and be more open and transparent. And the government must monitor that all changes in the tariff policy should to the maximum take into account the real economic situation and the solvency of the population.
The Ukrainian prime minister and representatives of the business associations agreed to step up communication, regularly exchange views, more actively involve the business community in the formation of the country’s effective economic policy.
