JSC Ukrzaliznytsia expects to launch a concession project for high-speed traffic in Ukraine with the help of investors from China, Korea and Turkey, Ukrzaliznytsia board chairman Volodymyr Zhmak has said.
“I believe that the only tool for building high-speed train networks is concession, and in order to realize this, Ukraine needs a powerful investor,” he said at the Ukraine30. Infrastructure forum in Kyiv.
According to Zhmak, there are currently interested investors from China, South Korea and Turkey.
“Today, these potential investors are just looking at Ukraine in terms of organizing high-speed traffic,” he said.
Earlier that day, at the forum, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy announced the ministry’s plans in 2021 to start work on a project for the implementation in Ukraine of a European format railway network (1,435mm) with a train speed of over 250 km/h.
“These are four sections with a total length of almost 2,000 km of railway track. The first section is Kyiv-Lviv and the border, 896 km, and we are already starting to build and prepare one of these stages this year,” the minister said.
The Ukrainian-U.S. Antares launcher rocketed into orbit, deploying a ship carrying cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), the press service of the State Space Agency of Ukraine has reported.
“The launch vehicle rocketed into orbit the Cygnus supply ship, carrying about 3,629 kg of NASA payload to the International Space Station – packaging for the crew, materials for scientific research, equipment for the station and spacewalk, computers and components, CubeSats,” the agency said last week.
The launcher took off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia, the United States at 19:36 Kyiv time on February 20 and it is the first launch of the Antares LV in 2021.
The preparation of launch vehicle Antares, its tests and start-up were carried out by specialists of SOE Design Bureau Pivdenne (Yuzhnoye), SOE Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash) and Hartron-Arkos scientific-production association. From the territory of Design Bureau Pivdenne, the launch support was provided in real time, telemetric information was processed.
According to the space agency, the Antares launch vehicle consists of two stages and the Cygnus supply ship (third stage). The main design of the first stage was developed by SOE Design Bureau Pivdenne and manufactured by SOE Pivdenmash in cooperation with the Ukrainian enterprises Khartron-Arkos (Kharkiv), Kyivprylad (Kyiv), Hartron-UCOM (Zaporizhia), CHEZARA (Chernihiv Plant of radio equipment), RAPID (Cherhiniv-based sensor enterprise), etc. The main designer of the launch vehicle is U.S. Northrop Grumman.
“I hope that soon the Ukrainian cooperation of enterprises will produce a fully domestic product – a medium-class launch vehicle, which will become the flagship of our rocket industry for the coming years,” acting head of the agency Mykhailo Lev said.
The state concern Ukroboronprom presents new military equipment and armaments of its own production at the International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX 2021) in Abu Dhabi (the United Arab Emirates), which opened on Sunday.
“The exhibition will showcase a number of promising developments and products of the concern, such as a model of the Neptune ground anti-ship missile system and Vilkha high-precision jet system from the Luch design bureau,” the press service of Ukroboronprom said.
Neptune is a modern Ukrainian model of armament, which guided missiles are inconspicuous to enemy radars and are capable of destroying both ships and ground targets.
The Vilkha high-precision heavy multiple rocket launcher is considered one of the most powerful in the world in its class.
“Also, the visitors of the exhibition are offered natural samples of the Skif and Corsar anti-tank missile systems and a model of the Sokol-300 reconnaissance and strike drone, the concern said in the statement.
The concern said that IDEX-2021 will present the capabilities of the Oplot tank, which is the best in the world in a number of characteristics, the BTR-4 combat vehicle and other advanced developments of the concern member companies.
In total, more than a dozen natural and mock-up (large-scale) samples of military and dual-use products are planned to be presented at the Ukrainian stand. During the exhibition, a number of talks are planned with official delegations of various countries and international companies on further partnerships.
The exhibition will end on February 25. The concern’s delegation is headed by its General Director Yuriy Husev. The head of the Ukrainian delegation is Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky.
IDEX is one of the largest international military exhibitions, which is held under the auspices of the President of the United Arab Emirates.
More than 900 leading defense companies from 59 countries will present their stands in the pavilions of the National Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi.
Ukraine is represented by nine defense industry enterprises, seven of which are part of Ukroboronprom.
The single counterparty exposure limit (H7, should be no more than 25%) as of February 1 was violated by Prominvestbank (65.76%), Industrialbank (50.9%) and Sberbank (52.37%), according to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the regulator, the related party transactions exposure limit (H9, should not exceed 25%) was violated by Megabank (28.43%), First Investment Bank (51.46%) and Unex Bank (28.71%).
The limit on bank total long open FX position (L13-1, should be no more than 10%) was violated by Prominvestbank (93.24%), Oschadbank (127.7%), PrivatBank (103.67%) and Industrialbank (10.6%).
The limit on bank total short open FX position (L13-2, should be no more than 10%) was violated by Prominvestbank (93.28%).
The Verkhovna Rada adopted at the second reading law on the unification of the rates of customs duties for light industry goods (bill No. 4410).
As a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine reports, 307 MPs voted for the bill at the second reading, with the required 226 votes.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, the unification of duty rates will speed up the customs clearance of such goods. The bill provides for the establishment of equal preferential rates of import duty on homogeneous goods of the light industry by reducing (by 255 subcategories) or increasing (by 25 categories) the current rates.
The bill, in particular, establishes preferential rates of customs duty: 0% – for raw materials that are not produced in Ukraine (yarn, fibers, threads 50-53 group of the Ukrainian Classifier of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity), as well as for artificial fibers of commodity items 5505, 506 and 5507.
In addition, a preferential rate is set from 1% to 8% for finished products – fabrics, felt, wicker nets, twine and ropes. At the same time, the bill retains the current preferential rates of 5% for mixed cotton fabrics (code 5211).
As for the increase in the rate of duties, they are increased to 10% for light industry goods in those subcategories where such rates are below 10% (some 105 commodity subcategories).
As stated on the website of the Ministry of Finance on Friday, this bill was drafted in cooperation with the Ukrainian Association of enterprises of textile and leather industry.
The Ministry of Finance said that the provisions of the bill do not apply to goods originating from countries with which Free Trade Agreements had been concluded.
Earlier, owner of the Textile-Contact Group, member of the Presidium of the Council of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine Oleksandr Sokolovsky spoke in support of the adoption of this bill.
“Today, the average rate of customs duties on fabric is from 0% to 5%, some up to 8%, while the nomenclature of groups 50-59 of the Ukrainian Classifier of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity includes more than 1,500 items of commodity subcategories, which even a specialist cannot visually distinguish without a laboratory. And laboratories are overloaded and examine the fabric for up to two or three months, and the production technologies go ahead and it is often problematic for them to deal with the codes,” he said.
According to him, the unification of rates will make it possible to simplify the work of inspectors, reduce the costs of importers of raw materials, and also create clear rules of the game for business.
Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov has left from Boryspil Airport to India to conduct direct negotiations with manufacturers on additional volumes of Oxford/AstraZeneca and NovaVax vaccines in 2021-2022.
“Kyiv-Dubai-Delhi-Pune. I will be at my destination place in Pune in 17 hours. We are preparing for negotiations with the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world – Serum Institute of India,” Stepanov wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday evening.
According to him, the pandemic will be a global problem for the next several years.
“We understand that it is necessary to contract additional volumes now,” the minister said.
“The main task is to reach the already contracted 12 million doses, to reach direct agreements for the supply of additional volumes of Oxford/AstraZeneca and NovaVax vaccines in 2021-2022 directly with the manufacturer,” Stepanov emphasized.
He also noted that he will personally control the dispatch of the first batch. “The importance of the cargo obliges,” the head of the department added.
