Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that German construction materials company Fixit has received investment insurance from the German government to build a second plant in Ukraine.
“We want German business to invest in Ukraine, to invest in recovery, and within the framework of the forum we are signing important documents… The building materials company Fixit will build a second plant in Ukraine and will receive investment insurance from the German government for this purpose, which will be signed here on the sidelines of the business conference,” Shmyhal said at a press conference at the sixth German-Ukrainian Economic Forum in Berlin on Tuesday.
According to the prime minister, Fixit will also receive a EUR12 million loan from the German bank KfW. “This is a very important and significant project,” he emphasized.
BUILD, CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL, Fixit, GERMANY, INSURANCE, PLANT
In July-September this year, the cargo turnover of the port of Kolobrzeg increased by 52% due to the resumption of transshipment of Ukrainian agricultural products, the Polish edition of Rynek Infrastruktury reports.
According to the report, Kolobrzeg was not previously included in the Polish government’s resolution on the transit of Ukrainian grain. In the third quarter, the port resumed accepting Ukrainian agricultural products, which helped increase cargo turnover.
In the third quarter, the Polish port handled more than 73 thousand tons of cargo, which is 52% more than in the same period of 2022, when 48 thousand tons were handled. The cargo included grain, logs, limestone, pellets and fertilizers. Grain accounts for half of the transshipment. Among the grains transshipped in Kolobrzeg, corn and barley were the most common.
The port temporarily suspended operations in April this year. Back then, the Polish authorities banned imports of Ukrainian grain but allowed its transit. At first, Kolobrzeg was not on the list of ports that could handle Ukrainian grain, but later the Polish government allowed the company to handle Ukrainian cargo.
“We have demonstrated that we are unpredictable in our actions as a country, so building long-term business relations is perceived as risky, as one decree can turn everything upside down”, said Artur Lievski, head of the port’s administration.
A week after the ban was imposed by the Polish government, the mistake was corrected: Kolobrzeg was included in the list of seaports through which grain can be transited from Ukraine. However, it took a long time to restore trust, and for some time no freight trains with Ukrainian products arrived in Kolobrzeg. After a three-month break, the first train with corn from Ukraine arrived at the seaport of Kolobrzeg in late July, the newspaper said.
The Kvitna Charitable Foundation has conducted free breast cancer screenings for more than 2,000 women over the five months of its Mobile Medical Platform.
According to the foundation’s press release, the mobile medical platform project began operating in May 2023. As part of the project, visitors can receive a free medical examination and consultation.
“The idea of creating a mobile medical platform has been around since the beginning of the full-scale war. This initiative is relevant for providing medical care to people in the destroyed regions, in settlements with many internally displaced persons, as well as in those cities and towns where there is simply no access to medical examination,” the foundation reports.
In addition, the foundation has purchased equipment and reagents worth more than UAH 1.5 million for the National Cancer Institute (NCR), and has implemented more than 40 awareness-raising campaigns.
The mobile medical platform is a converted room on wheels specially designed for medical purposes. Its autonomy is ensured by its own power generator to provide comfortable conditions for visitors. The platform is connected to the Starlink network to ensure constant communication.
Inside there are two rooms, a bathroom and a refrigerator for storing medicines. The platform is equipped with an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus with a set of sensors for various examinations, including ultrasound of the thyroid gland, breast, abdominal organs, pelvic organs, etc.
The competition between Ukrainian and Russian sunflower oil on the global market in 2023/24 MY will be very high, especially on the markets of India, China, Asia and Africa, said Viktoriia Blazhko, the Head of the Black Sea Agricultural Markets Department of APK-Inform, at the XXI International Conference Fat&Oil Industry-2023.
According to her, Ukraine remains the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, despite the disruption of the supply chain. However, Ukraine’s share in the global exports is decreasing due to the increase in sunflower oil exports from Russia.
“Russia’s pressure is increasing… Russian products exert pressure by improving quality, price and increasing sunflower production,” the expert explained.
She emphasized that the main “battlefield” in this confrontation is India and China, other countries of Asia and Africa.
“Russia is becoming the main supplier of sunflower oil to China… The Chinese are interested in Ukrainian oil, but they will buy it only from Ukrainian ports, shipped from ports. As for India, Ukrainian products retain their market share, but the pressure from Russia is increasing,” emphasized Ms. Blazhko.
She also drew attention to the important news for the market about the ban on imports of vegetable oils by Iran starting from October 23. Iran is a major buyer of Russian sunflower oil. All the products shipped to this country will end up on the global market and put additional pressure on the export of products from Ukraine.
Poland’s Pronar, a major manufacturer of agricultural and municipal equipment, is patenting a special machine for demining fields and construction sites, planning to start mass production for Ukraine’s needs in 2024, said Radoslaw Biletsky, Pronar’s director of trade and marketing.
“A team of 150 engineers is working very closely with partners in Ukraine to overcome the existing challenges – mined agricultural fields… so that agricultural machinery has special integrated systems that could solve these problems,” he said at the forum “Ukraine-Poland. Machinery and Equipment Sector” forum under the patronage of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency and the Polish Union of Employers in the Construction Sector in Siemiatycze, Poland.
Biletsky declined to give more precise specifications of the machine until the patenting procedure is completed, noting that the vehicle will be automated, can be controlled remotely, and can be used in fields, construction sites, and other open areas.
According to the Sales and Marketing Director, this is another product line that Pronar has designed specifically for use in Ukraine.
“The newest line is shredding machines. They allow us to bring to zero those places where the business will continue to develop in order to prepare locations for new construction,” said Biletsky.
He added that Pronar also exports snowplows, spreaders and sweepers to Ukraine, which help to ensure transportation.
Earlier, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine indicated that there are 30 demining machines in the country, of which 25 are in constant operation.
Pronar is a Polish manufacturing company that has been operating since 1988. According to its website, it has nine production sites, its own research and development center, airport and exhibition center. According to the company, it holds a significant position in Europe in the production of agricultural, municipal and processing machinery, crushers and disc wheels for low-speed machines and components, supplying products to more than 80 countries in total. Pronar employs over 3000 people.
A work plan for 2024-2025 in fulfillment of a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation was signed on Monday by the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovation (UKRNOISI, IP Office) and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) during a visit to Kiev by an EU delegation led by EUIPO Executive Director Joao Negrau.
“The plan … opens the door to the inclusion of data on Ukrainian trademarks and industrial designs in the EUIPO databases, which are the largest in the world with more than 115 million trademarks and more than 20 million industrial designs from five continents,” the Ministry of Economy said in a press release following the meeting and the signing of the document.
It is also assumed that UKRNOISI will receive support from the EU on issues related to the legal protection of trademarks and industrial designs, including IP rights protection.
In addition, as part of the work plan, UKRNOISI will take advantage of the EU support in harmonizing the Ukrainian practice of registration and examination of applications for trademarks and industrial designs with the EU practice. Such harmonization should allow Ukrainian businesses to operate more easily abroad.
As part of larger EU initiatives to deepen UKRNOISI’s integration into the EU intellectual property (IP) system, a project on international IP cooperation involving Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia is also under discussion.
It is specified that this was the first foreign visit in the new position of EUIPO Executive Director Joao Negrau.
“Intellectual property and innovation in the context of Ukraine’s attainment of EU candidate status play a defining role. By harmonizing rules and procedures in these areas, we not only open Ukraine to the world as an innovative and creative nation, but also significantly improve its investment attractiveness,” the release quotes First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko as saying.
“The work plan agreed in Kyiv today not only emphasizes the commitment of EUIPO and EU national agencies to support our Ukrainian partners on the eve of EU accession, but also reinforces our role as an effective mediator for Ukraine in the dialogue with EU partners,” Negrau added.
According to Remy Duflo, Deputy Chairman of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, strengthening intellectual property protection is important not only in the context of Ukraine’s accession to the EU, but also for the more pressing needs of recovery, as without a strong intellectual property ecosystem, foreign investors will simply not come in sufficient numbers.
The MoE recalls that in June 2023, the EUIPO and the European Commission’s SME Fund to support Ukrainian enterprises was extended to include Ukrainian enterprises, which can now obtain funding to apply for the acquisition of intellectual property rights, in particular trademarks, industrial designs or inventions and utility models.
EUIPO is one of the largest decentralized offices of the EU, located in Alicante (Spain). EUIPO registers EU Trade Marks (EUTM) and Community Designs (RCD), which makes it possible to obtain legal protection for the relevant intellectual property in all EU Member States. The Office also cooperates with national and regional EU intellectual property offices and coordinates the activities of the European Observatory for Intellectual Property Infringement.
