KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry of Ukraine in H1 2015 finished 80% of steps required for the implementation of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, Deputy Minister for European Integration Roman Chuprynenko has said.
“I want to inform you that 80% of the action plan to implement the agreement with the EU has been finished in H1 2015. It is out of question that this year the ministry would make all steps, and I set the task to accelerate the steps planned for 2016,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on July 10.
Chuprynenko said that the ministry is to take 18 steps to implement the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and the ministry is the key executor of nine steps.
He said that the ministry, jointly with the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving and the European Energy Community, is making steps to implement the requirements of the EU directive on energy efficiency, which is crucial for Ukraine despite not being included in the general action plan to implement the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.
He said that the implementation of this EU directive would create a reliable legal basis to conduct energy efficiency reform in Ukraine.
“A large Ukrainian delegation will visit Vienna, the office of the European Energy Community in two weeks to work on the draft law on energy efficiency in Ukraine,” he said.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Grain exports from Ukraine since early current agricultural year (July-June) as of July 10, 2015 totaled 527,000 tonnes, including 343,000 tonnes of corn, the press service of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has reported.
The ministry said that as of July 10, 97,000 tonnes of wheat, 85,000 tonnes of barley and 2,000 tonnes of other grain cops was supplied to foreign markets.
A total of 268,000 tonnes of grain was loaded to ships.
As reported, tentatively grain exports from Ukraine in 2014/15 agricultural year totaled 34.805 million tonnes, including 18.837 million tonnes of corn. A total of 11.234 million tonnes of wheat, 4.46 million tonnes of barley and 280,000 tonnes of other grain crops was supplied to foreign markets.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has confirmed his participation in the first American-Ukrainian Business Forum, which will take place in Washington on July 13, and expressed the hope for some progress.
“On July 13, I will be in Washington, D.C., together with a government delegation. This day, the first Ukraine-U.S. Investment Conference will take place there,” the Ukrainian premier wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday morning.
He recalled that ahead of the conference, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine presented a video about investment opportunities in the country.
“There is still a lot of work ahead, but I am sure that together we will succeed!” Yatseniuk wrote.
Ukraine will present its agricultural sector, IT, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, energy, aviation, and missile building industry at the forum.
According to the forum’s agenda, Ukraine will be represented at the event by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, Economic Development and Trade Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko, Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky, head of the State Fiscal Service Roman Nasirov, deputy head of the presidential administration Dmitry Shymkiv, head of the State Property Fund Ihor Bilous and Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Andriy Kobolev.
It is expected that the forum will be attended by 150 participants from the United States and Ukraine.
KYIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – In the 2014/2015 marketing year (MY, July-June) Ukraine exported more than 2.7 million tonnes of corn to China, which is 5.4 times more than in the previous marketing year.
“According to UkrAgroConsult, maize exports to China in the 2013/2014 MY exceeded 500,000 tonnes, while in the 2014/2015 MY the figure is estimated at about 2.7 million tonnes,” the leading grain market expert at UkrAgroConsult consulting agency, Yelyzaveta Malyshko, told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, in April and May 2015 Ukrainian companies supplied about one million tonnes of this crop to the country.
“Ukrainian corn is well known all over the world. First of all, it is not genetically modified. Despite the fact that China accepts 15 varieties of genetically modified corn, it does not accept maize stamped MIR 162. American corn in this sense has problems with exports to China. In the year before the marketing year, 1.3 million tonnes of U.S. corn was not accepted at Chinese ports,” Acting Chairman of PJSC State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine Borys Prykhodko said.
KYIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The task of the Ukrainian delegation at the first American-Ukrainian Business Forum, which will take place in Washington (the United States) on July 13, 2015, is to establish direct contacts with key investors, according to Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius
“Our task is to show a new government team and establish direct relations with the key investors,” Abromavicius said at a briefing.
He did not predict the outcome of the forum, saying that establishing contacts with a potential investor often takes a long time.
According to Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska, the 200 largest U.S. companies will attend the forum. Well-known investor and billionaire, president of NCH George Soros and investment banker David Rubenstein will speak at the forum.
The delegation will present Ukraine’s agricultural sector, IT, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, energy, aviation, and missile building industry at the forum.
KYIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Yuzhny seaport (Odesa region) has assessed the total plan of capital investment for 2015-2019 under the investment program for medium-term outlook as being worth $500 million, the port’s press service has reported.
The press service said that Head of Yuzhny Port Oleksandr Lahosha gave this information to a delegation of representatives of the commercial office of the U.S. Embassy to Ukraine headed by Senior Commercial Officer James Lindley and the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine headed by President Andy Hunder during their visit to the port.
Lahosha said that in the past year the efforts of Yuzhny seaport have been aimed at supporting existing facilities and increasing the operating effectiveness for loading and unloading or ships with a carrying capacity of 175,000-200,000 tonnes.
He said that the top priorities in the development of the port are the modernization of berths for loading and unloading, an increase in the number of handling facilities, and boosting cargo handling volume and development of port infrastructure. However, the implementation of this investment program is impossible without raising the funds of private investors.
In turn, Hunder said that he is ready to promote the establishment of mutually beneficial contacts with U.S. private businesses and raising foreign capital.
Yuzhny port was founded in 1978. It is located on the Adzhalyk firth and is the deepest harbor in Ukraine. The length of its berths is around 2.6 kilometers. The port has six handling terminals.
Sea terminals in various forms of ownership operate at the port: Pivdenny oil terminal, Transbunker-Yug LLC’s fuel handling terminal, a terminal of Transinvestservice LLC, a grain handling terminal of Borivage LLC, and a tropic oil handling and processing complex of Delta Wilmar CIS LLC.
