Import of goods in Jan-Oct 2023 in most important positions to previous 2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Polish President Andrzej Duda said that blocking the border with Ukraine is not a decision of the Polish authorities, but of farmers, in turn the government is trying to solve the problem.
“Blocking the border is not a decision of the Polish authorities, it is just a decision made by farmers and farmers’ organizations,” Duda said on the air of the national telethon.
The Polish president hopes that the issue with farmers can be resolved through negotiations.
At the same time, Duda noted that after the Polish authorities opened grain corridors for the transit of Ukrainian grain, the amount of agricultural products transported through Poland from Ukraine increased 300 times.
The interview was recorded before February 20, when Polish striking farmers near the Medika-Szehyni checkpoint opened a cargo container with agricultural products and dumped them on the ground.
Japanese partners have confirmed their interest in projects to support Ukraine’s agricultural sector and train veterans, and the respective teams of the two countries are working together to find ways to implement these intentions, said Vitaliy Koval, chairman of the State Property Fund, following the visit of a Ukrainian delegation led by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to the Conference on Economic Development and Reconstruction in Tokyo.
According to a release from the Fund, its head spoke about the key areas of the agency’s work, investment proposals for Japanese business, and new projects of the SPFU team – work with sanctioned property and the Land Bank, which is scheduled to be launched at the end of this year.
Regarding the latter project, the head of the Fund had a separate meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, as the SPFU manages 386 thousand hectares of agricultural land, which should work for the Ukrainian economy and bring profit to the state budget.
According to Koval, the meeting discussed attracting Japanese investors to the Ukrainian agricultural sector, in particular, the use of their equipment, as the need of Ukrainian farmers for mechanized machinery with a capacity of up to 200 hp is very high, and the world leaders in the production of such equipment are concentrated in Japan.
“Ukragroleasing can become their partner here. The company is managed by the SPFU and can help with leasing equipment,” said the head of the Fund.
He also called on foreign partners to pay attention to one of the most important areas of work for the whole country – retraining and training of veterans, which is the management and maintenance of agricultural machinery.
Koval said that the State Property Fund has the capabilities to assist in training: it can be conducted at the SPFU’s training centers, and such facilities will become training centers for operators and service engineers for Japanese agricultural machinery.
As reported, during the visit, the Ukrainian delegation signed 56 documents related to cooperation in many sectors of the economy of the two countries.
Ukrainian development company Alterra Group has insured in IC INGO (Kiev) the construction of a new logistics center PORT2 in Lviv region, according to the insurer’s press release.
It is also noted that Alterra Group has partially insured the first part of the logistics center PORT (PORT1), including the economic building and communications PORT1. In addition, the construction of the second part of PORT(PORT2) was fully insured against military risks. All buildings, including finishing, communications and glass, as well as construction and installation works and materials (including construction materials) or elements of the building that have not been put into operation are insured.
The sum of insurance coverage amounts to UAH 20 mln.
According to the insurance contract, IC INGO undertakes to indemnify the cost of restoration of insured objects in case of their damage or destruction as a result of military actions, including hit by missiles or their debris, drones, other types of armed aggression or defense actions.
Additionally, in case of an insured event, INGO compensates for the costs of clearing the territory of the insured object, firefighting costs, other measures that will help prevent or reduce the amount of damage, as well as payment for the services of engaged specialists and overtime expenses.
According to Dmitry Kovalchuk, founder of Alterra Group, such an insurance contract will facilitate cooperation with potential clients and investors, especially during construction.
“This is an important first step for business, as it demonstrates the private sector’s ability to adapt to challenges and stay ahead of government protection mechanisms that are sorely lacking,” says Dmitry Kovalchuk.
Director for Corporate Business of INGO Insurance Company Andriy Semchenko, in his turn, noted that insurers should cover war risks of Ukrainian business for the sake of promoting the Ukrainian economy. Even despite the fact that now the Ukrainian insurance market is left without the support of Western reinsurers for military risks.
“Yes, it is difficult for domestic insurance companies to provide substantial coverage limits, but we simply have no other choice – entrepreneurs should receive guarantees of protection and continue to work in Ukraine, rather than taking business abroad,” said Andriy Semchenko.
JSC “Insurance company “INGO” provides insurance services for 30 years. Since 2017, the main shareholder is the Ukrainian business group DCH.
“INGO” is a full member of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTSBU), a member of the American Chamber of Commerce (ACC), the European Business Association (EBA), the National Association of Insurers of Ukraine (NASU) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
Within the first competitions of the NEXT Romania-Ukraine cross-border communities development program for the period 2021-2027, 120 projects with a non-refundable value of EUR87 million have been submitted, according to the project’s press service.
The press service of the Romanian Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration told Interfax-Ukraine that the submitted projects include 153 partners from Romania and 158 from Ukraine.
The Interreg NEXT Romania-Ukraine program has a budget of EUR54 million in grant funds, to which the national contribution will be added. Projects that will benefit border communities in Satu Mare, Maramures, Botosani, Suceava and Tulcea counties (Romania), as well as in Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattya, Chernivtsi and Odessa regions (Ukraine) will be eligible for funding.
According to the press service, a call for standard projects (projects with an infrastructure component of at least EUR500,000) was announced in August 2023. EUR12.6 mln allocated for this competition will be used for investments in healthcare and education. Within the framework of the competition 49 projects were submitted, the grant value of which is EUR60 mln.
The Small Projects Competition was launched in September 2023. This competition has a budget of EUR14.5 million, which will be directed to measures on climate change prevention and control, biodiversity conservation, health, education and border management. Seventy-one projects were submitted, with a total value of EUR27 million in grant funds.
According to the press service of the Romanian Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, the most applications – 29 standard and 13 small – were submitted in the direction of ensuring equal access to health care and increasing the sustainability of health care systems, including primary health care, as well as promoting the transition from institutional to family-based care.
The second most popular focus area is educational. 20 standard and 17 small projects were designed to improve equitable access to inclusive and quality education, training and lifelong learning services through the development of accessible infrastructure.
15 small projects focused on improving the protection and conservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban areas; 13 small projects focused on disaster risk prevention, strengthening resilience through ecosystem approaches.
Border crossing management was addressed by 13 small projects submitted.
The projects will be subjected to an evaluation and selection procedure in the following period.At this stage, a detailed analysis of the submitted projects is underway and the results of the selection process will be presented tentatively in early summer, with contracts ideally signed by the first quarter of 2025, but “the actual duration of the process will also depend on the quality of the applications submitted and the number of clarifications required”.
All submitted projects will go through two stages of evaluation: eligibility and quality. Applications that pass all these stages will be subject to approval by the Monitoring Committee (a joint structure composed of members from both countries).
Funding will be awarded to projects that best meet the requirements of the Applicant’s Guidelines and that will actually contribute to community development in the border region.
Interreg NEXT, the EU’s cooperation programs with neighboring regions, comprises 184 regions with a population of 260 million people in 33 countries and is located along the EU’s external borders from the northern periphery to the Mediterranean region and from the Atlantic to the Black Sea basin.
Interreg NEXT cooperation programs for the period 2021-2027 include EUR1.1 billion from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA).
CLIMATE CHANGE, cross-border communities, EDUCATION, HEALTH, Interreg NEXT
Export of important goods from Ukraine in Jan-Oct 2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
