Ukraine does not yet have resources for creating its own innovative drugs, the development is demonstrated by generic production, Dmytro Shymkiv, the chairman of the board of directors of Darnitsa Group, has said.
“For the production of innovative drugs, we need appropriate research and development and patent protection of intellectual property not only in Ukraine, but also globally. And we also need the ability to raise from $ 1 billion and have at least 8-10 years of time. The availability of such resources in Ukraine is not yet discussed,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, he noted that “the generic market is also showing development, new combination drugs are being created and the existing lines are actively expanding.”
In addition, Shymkiv believes that “the Ukrainian pharmaceutical sector will not be able to cover all the needs for medicines,” therefore, there can be no talk of 100% import substitution.
“Refusal to import can be considered in those segments where Ukrainian companies can and are already producing drugs,” he said.
Commenting on the possibility of reviving vaccine production in Ukraine, Shymkiv stressed that “vaccine production is, first of all, issues of public-private partnership.”
“We studied the possibility of launching vaccine production. Everything causes the question: who is the customer. If the state guarantees the purchase, then we will have a Ukrainian plant using the best technologies. And Darnitsa is ready to invest in this. Invest where there are no guarantees of public procurement is too risky,” he said.
On December 7, Germany’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Ambassador Rolf Mafael and Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni signed an agreement on the allocation of funds to Ukraine within the Council of Europe Action Plan, in particular, Germany allocates EUR 1 million, the German Embassy in Kyiv reported.
“As chairman of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Germany supports Ukraine’s efforts towards reforms. To demonstrate our support, we, as last year, made an important financial contribution to the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine,” said German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen.
In 2019, Berlin already contributed EUR 1 million to support the Plan.
PJSC Energomashspetsstal (Kramatorsk, Donetsk region), owned by Russia’s Atomenergomash (state corporation Rosatom), in January-November this year increased steel production by 9.3% compared to the same period last year, to 59,000 tonnes.
A source in the industry told Interfax-Ukraine that 4,000 tonnes of steel were produced in November.
As reported, Energomashspetsstal in 2019 reduced steel production by 4.8% compared to 2018, to 59,000 tonnes.
Energomashspetsstal is the largest Ukrainian manufacturer of special cast and forged products of individual and small-scale production for metallurgy, shipbuilding, energy (wind, steam, hydro, nuclear) and general mechanical engineering.
Ukraine in January-November 2020 reduced electricity exports by 23.1% (1.331 billion kWh) compared to the same period in 2019, to 4.425 billion kWh, according to Ukrenergo.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the supply of electricity from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia and Romania decreased by 28.5% (by 1.121 billion kWh), to 2.805 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland increased by 12% (by 147.9 million kWh), to 1.381 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Moldova amounted to 156 million kWh, which is 73.9% (441 million kWh) less than in January-November 2019.
Since the beginning of the year, exports to Belarus amounted to 82.8 million kWh.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Russia.
At the same time, over the 11 months, Ukraine also reduced electricity imports by 2% (by 43 million kWh) compared to the same period last year, to 2.156 billion kWh. In particular, 1.356 billion kWh were supplied from Slovakia, 506.9 million kWh from Hungary, 152.3 million kWh from Belarus, 87.9 million kWh from Romania, 53.4 million kWh from the Russian Federation.
DTEK Kyiv Region Grids in the six months of 2020 connected 297 household solar power plants to the networks, thereby increasing the number of such plants in the region by 16.8%, to 2,082.
According to the press service of the company, Kyiv region is one of the five leaders, where the largest number of household solar plants is installed.
According to Vitaliy Shaida, the director general of DTEK Kyiv Region Grids, the largest number of “green” energy producers are in Kyiv-Sviatoshynsky districts with 344 stations, Brovary district with 263 plants and Boryspil district with 235 stations.
As reported, Ukrainian households had installed more than 25,600 solar panels as of July 1, 2020. The total capacity of all solar plants is 658 MW. The leaders in the number of solar power plants also became Dnipropetrovsk region (3,398), Ternopil region (2,200), Ivano-Frankivsk region (1,900), and Zakarpattia region (1,600).
In the first half of 2020, some 1,330 new private solar power plants were connected to the distribution system operators of DTEK Grids. Thus, as of July 1, 2020, the total number of private solar power plants connected to DTEK Grids is 7,220 objects, which is 28% of the total number of prosumers in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Microsoft Corporation (the United States) have agreed to cooperate in implementing the Azure Expansion Program in Ukraine, which provides for the creation of hyperscale cloud services.
“Today, the digital economy in Ukraine is developing before your eyes. We are grateful to Microsoft for showing special attention to our market, for choosing our country. One of the priority goals of our ministry is to digitize 100% of public services in two and a half years. And this cannot be done if there is no data center in which this data will be stored in our country. In fact, Microsoft may become the first large-scale project that will help us realize our ambitious goal,” Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov said during a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.
The Azure Expansion Program digital transformation program will facilitate the implementation of cloud-based innovations for various commercial, government agencies and enterprises, as well as the government of Ukraine.
Microsoft also intends to provide technology support to help demonstrate the use of the Azure Cloud.
According to Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Yulia Kovaliv, educational programs in Ukraine will also be developed in partnership with Microsoft.
