The Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) is forced to appeal to law enforcement agencies and the public due to a new incident of attempted blocking of its activities at its headquarters at 34 Khreshchatyk Street, Kyiv.
The personal belongings of the business union’s employees, as well as important working documents, keys for electronic signatures, forms and seals of the organization remain in the premises. This situation greatly complicates our activities and threatens to disrupt the international projects to restore Ukraine that we are involved in.
We remind you that a few months ago, the balance holder of the premises, the Office of Administrative Buildings of the Economic and Financial Department of the CMU Secretariat, decided in an ultimatum not to agree to the extension of the USPP office, which it has occupied for 32 years, arguing that government officials need the building. At the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers itself has announced a reduction in ministries and, accordingly, in their staffs, and the neighboring floors of the building on Khreshchatyk, with a total area of about 3,000 square meters, have not been used for years.
The ULIE seeks to resolve everything exclusively in the legal field. Therefore, court proceedings on this issue are ongoing, and the courts have not yet made a decision on this issue.
Instead, the balance holder, without waiting for a court decision, installed a metal structure worth about 400 thousand hryvnias – and this is in wartime, in conditions of unprecedented budget deficit – to simply prevent employees of the NGO from returning to their workplaces.
On the basis of the ULIE, the Anti-Crisis Headquarters for Economic Sustainability under Martial Law operates, where the problems of the wartime economy are discussed, and the meetings are attended by representatives of the parliament, government officials, business organizations, the National Academy of Sciences and others. The headquarters’ recommendations are taken into account in the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council and the Government, as well as in draft laws of the Verkhovna Rada. For example, a recent meeting of the Anti-Crisis Center was devoted to the issues of reservation and energy. Our efforts have resulted in progress in the electronic booking of specialists, and before that, in the ability to book all 100% of employees of defense companies, etc. Proposals on energy are expected to be taken into account in the NSDC decisions. The day before, Anatoliy Kinakh, President of the ULIE, held a working meeting with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, where the parties agreed on joint actions in this area.
The Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs is actively involved in the implementation of the President’s initiative “Made in Ukraine” and the joint Statement of the Government and business associations of Ukraine on deepening cooperation between the state and business.
Moreover, the ULIE regularly hosts meetings and working communications with international partners: a joint project with the ILO to stimulate women’s economic involvement through the development of a network of corporate children’s spaces, online conferences with related business organizations from the EU, the US, and other partner countries of Ukraine in the fight against the Russian aggressor, and meetings with ambassadors.
In Warsaw, the ULIE registered the Premier-U International Foundation, whose main goal is to restore Ukraine from the consequences of Russian aggression and attract investments from partner countries for these purposes. The supervisory board of the Foundation includes former prime ministers of Ukraine and Poland, and in the future – most EU countries.
Therefore, such unilateral actions by the balance holder (the CMU Office) threaten to disrupt important projects to restore Ukraine and call into question the state intentions of individual government officials involved in this case.
As long as the court proceedings are ongoing, it is unacceptable to impede the statutory activities of the USPP, an organization with a 32-year history, known and respected in business circles in Ukraine and the EU. This harms the European integration process, the image of the state, worsens business expectations and reduces the effectiveness of the government-entrepreneurs’ dialogue.
The unimpeded operation of the ULIE is critically important for supporting Ukrainian business and industry, especially under martial law.
We appeal to Ukrainian business associations, employers’ associations, public organizations and initiatives to support us as you have always done. We also appeal to the media to cover this incident. Your attention and support is important for ensuring transparency and justice in our country.
The war unleashed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine continues. The enemy is focusing its efforts on depleting Ukraine’s resources.
Now is the time for unity, joint work to increase the resilience and self-sufficiency of the national economy, development of Ukrainian production, and thus further strengthening of our defense capabilities.
For more details, please visit the official website of the ULIE (uspp.ua).
The background of the issue is here.
The US Mercury Bank has amended its policy, according to which it refuses to service accounts of legal entities whose founders are located in Ukraine, according to a message released by Mercury on social networks.
“While Ukraine is not subject to comprehensive sanctions, several regions of Ukraine have been sanctioned. We have previously utilized a regional model to support as many customers in Ukraine as possible; however, maintaining this policy while meeting our strict compliance standards has become increasingly challenging. We will continue to review this policy and hope to be able to modify it in the future,” the bank said in a statement to a client inquiry.
In Mercury clarified that the initial message that the bank refuses to serve and companies with founders with Ukrainian passport residing in the U.S., was erroneous.
On July 22, Petcube CEO Yaroslav Azhnyuk reported about the receipt of such a letter refusing to open accounts for applicants with passports of such countries as Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, regardless of their physical location. According to him, Ukrainian customers will have full access to their accounts until August 6, and already on August 13 their accounts will be closed.
However, in comments to the post, users published a screenshot of Mercury’s response on Linkedin, where the bank points out an error in its own statement, and says that these restrictions do not apply to Ukrainians living in the United States.
“We have always allowed (and continue to allow) customers with Ukrainian passports based in the US to use Mercury – we simply cannot support companies with founders based in Ukraine today. We apologize for the confusion caused by this error”, – stated in the message.
In turn, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, reacted to the situation by asking to forward to her Mercury Bank’s letters to Ukrainian clients with permission to explain the situation.
On July 23, the Ukrainian State Postal Communications Enterprise (USPCE) Ukrposhta (Kiev) announced its intention to conclude a contract with IC Guardian (Kiev) for the services of compulsory insurance of civil liability of owners of motor vehicles (OSAGO).
As reported in the system of electronic public procurement “Prozorro”, at the expected cost of the purchase of services1,151 million UAH price proposal of IC “Guardian” amounted to 363.3 thousand UAH,
The tender was also attended by “European Insurance Alliance” – UAH 369,01 thousand, “Inter-Policy” – UAH 524,9 thousand, “Euroins Ukraine” – UAH 1,036 million.
IC “Guardian” has been working in the insurance market since 2007. It is a member of the Presidium of the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine. Since January 2020 it has received the status of a full member of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTSBU), has the right to sell “Green Card” policies.
State-owned Ukreximbank has successfully sold a pool of land plots for construction in Kyiv region through the OpenMarket electronic trading system (SE SETAM of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine). The total sale amounted to UAH 28,289,000. These land plots were acquired by the Bank as a result of work with non-performing loans (NPL) and sold at a price higher than the cost of acquiring them, which confirms the effectiveness of the Bank’s actions. In 2023, Ukreximbank’s proactive position and continuous work of the NPL division, despite all the existing obstacles, gave the bank a record result of UAH 2.7 billion in NPL repayments. In total, over the past 10 years, repayment of NPLs amounted to UAH 10.1 billion, 50% of which was received over the past 3 years.
“Our bank demonstrates good results of working with NPLs in 2024. With the sale of this land plot, the total portfolio of the Bank’s repossessed property sold in 1H2024 amounts to UAH 190 million, which confirms the success of the previous year,” said Anatoliy Lola, Director of Restructuring and Recovery Department of Ukreximbank.
The land plots with a total area of 12,755 hectares are located in Bucha district of Kyiv region (Kyiv-Svyatoshyn district). Their intended purpose is for construction and maintenance of a residential building, outbuildings and structures (personal plot). The land plots are located in an open field with a flat terrain, 4 km from the center of Bilohorodka village.
“Our portfolio includes many attractive properties, such as these plots, which will be used for housing construction,” said Pavel Gashkovets, Ukreximbank’s Management Board Member in charge of organizing work with distressed assets. “The bank regularly holds electronic auctions for the sale of property that was collateral for non-performing loans on the principles of transparency and openness. All information about the sale of such property can be found on the bank’s website in the “Currentauctions” section, and the entire list of property available for sale is given in the “Sale of own property” section.”
The village of Bilohorodka is located on the right bank of the Irpin River, 22 km from Kyiv and 8 km from the Tarasivka passenger railway station.
“The land plots have a favorable location and convenient transport links, which provides an excellent opportunity for residential development. We congratulate the bank and the buyer on the successful transaction,” said Oleksandr Mamro, CEO of SE SETAM.
TheOpenMarket auction (SE SETAM of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine) is a simple and effective means of selling and purchasing property via the Internet. The online auction has been operating throughout Ukraine since 2014, and the total amount of sales since its launch is UAH 22.2 billion.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for €1, in 01.04.2024-30.04.2024)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is making the first visit by a Ukrainian official to China since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
“Hello to all from China. Following up on the contacts between the leaders of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and China’s Xi Jinping, I am carrying out the first visit of a Ukrainian official to China since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. This is also the first bilateral visit of the Ukrainian foreign minister to China since 2012,” he said on his Instagram.
He informed that ahead – detailed, substantive talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on ways to a just peace.
“Must avoid competition of peace plans. It is very important that Kiev and Beijing have a direct dialog and exchange of positions. We will also discuss bilateral relations. I am convinced: after Ukraine started negotiations on accession to the European Union, China should look at relations with our state through the prism of its strategic relations with Europe,” – said Kuleba.
As reported, July 23-25, Kuleba will pay a visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
