KYIV. April 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted the law on amendments to some laws of Ukraine on the promotion, creation and operation of family farms.
Some 262 deputies voted for relevant draft law No. 1599.
The document provides a simplified procedure for the transformation of personal peasant farms into family farms, simplifies registration and organization of their business activities, as well as the procedures for obtaining permits.
The document foresees amendments and additions to the law on farms and personal peasant farms in order to create legal, economic and social preconditions for the transformation of personal peasant farms into family farms, obviating the need to receive the status of legal entity or individual entrepreneur. The measure ensures the full participation family farms in the agricultural market and strengthens the social protection of members of such farms, stimulating the creation on their basis of a viable system of agricultural service cooperatives and the integrated development of small farms in rural areas.
KYIV. April 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The International Financial Corporation (IFC), a division of the World Bank Group, and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO) will allocate $3.5 million in 2016-2018 to finance an advisory program to help improve the investment climate in Ukraine.
The funding will be $3.5 million, the project is designed for three years until December of 2018, and its partner is the Swiss government, the World Bank project manager in Ukraine, Eugeniu Osmochescu, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to him, the program’s partners in Ukraine will be the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry.
The program is aimed at creating an effective regulatory environment for enterprises, the reduction of costs for the implementation of business activities and providing assistance in opening new markets to Ukrainian agricultural producers.
The new project will focus on improving regulatory procedures such as obtaining permits, licensing and inspection of enterprises in all sectors of economy. It will also help adapt Ukrainian legislation to international requirements.
The program will also help simplify the logistics in ports and river transportation in order to facilitate the development of trade and exports.
This project is based on the results of preliminary work conducted by the IFC in agriculture.
KYIV. April 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Risoil S.A. has launched a first phase of a grain terminal belonged to Risoil Terminal JV LLC at the Illichivsk maritime transport port (Odesa region).
“Building a modern complex for grain handling is a large step in developing the region’s infrastructure. These are new jobs and a good example for attracting investors,” the press service of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry reported, citing Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko.
He said that Risoil Terminal at the Illichivsk port is the largest export-import bulk terminal in the Black Sea region. The terminal plays a key role in exports of Ukrainian unrefined sunflower oil and provides interim storage services to the large companies such as Cargill, Kernel, ADM and others.
The terminal includes a warehouse with a storage capacity of 30,000 tonnes of grain. Around 120 trucks a day can be unloaded at the warehouse. The annual pass-through capacity of the warehouse will be 700,000 tonnes of grain.
The silo complex has 13 silos with a storage capacity of 85,000 tonnes of grain. Nine more silos with a total capacity of 125,000 tonnes will be built with the railway station for unloading up to 220 wagons a day.
“The truck unloading station with four lanes for trucks is being built. This would allow unloading 400 trucks a day,” the minister said.
Risoil S.A. was founded in Switzerland in 2000. The company offers the following services: logistics of vegetable oils, bulk and general cargoes in the ports of the Black Sea; manufacturing and distribution of vegetable oils; storage of grains and oilseeds in containers and storage and processing of agricultural products.
KYIV. April 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Luhanskteplovoz, owned by Russia’s Transmashholding (TMH), is operating. The plant in March 2016 fulfilled all its liabilities to customers, first to Russian Railways (RZD), the company reported on Thursday.
“There are still problems with sales of products. Large inefficient expenses appeared due to a delay of a batch of locomotives on the customs border,” the company said.
Luhanskteplovoz failed to pay for spare parts to some companies in Ukraine, Russia, the United States and Germany.
The company also pointed at real challenges with supply of materials and spare parts to the plant.
Luhanskteplovoz said that the problem of non-refunding VAT from the Ukrainian national budget is becoming more acute. The debt has exceeded UAH 750 million.
Director General Petro Karpov said that despite difficulties, Luhanskteplovoz in 2014-2015 produced almost 100 diesel locomotives of various models and other products worth over UAH 3 billion.
Luhanskteplovoz produces trunk and shunting diesel locomotives, electric locomotives and diesel trains.
KYIV. April 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker in Washington DC to discuss investments in Ukraine.
“The head of state informed on the course of reforms in Ukraine, which provides new opportunities for the involvement of American investments in the Ukrainian economy,” the Ukrainian presidential press service said.
The interlocutors also discussed the attraction of U.S. loans. The U.S.
secretary of state pledged assistance in the boosting of operations of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in Ukraine.
According to the report, Pritzker backed Poroshenko’s initiative to create a National Investment Council with the participation of leading U.S.
companies.
