On Monday, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) and Polish operator Polskie Koleje Państwowe Spółka Akcyjna (PKP S.A.) signed an agreement on the development of railway communication, the first of its kind since 1994, said Yevhen Lyashchenko, chairman of the board of UZ.
“Together we will continue to develop the border infrastructure and increase passenger and freight traffic between our countries, which will ultimately have a positive effect on our railways and the national economies of Ukraine and Poland,” Lyashchenko said in a press release.
Under the agreement, PKP will work out measures to conclude separate agreements with UZ in the field of railway infrastructure management, freight and passenger rail transportation. The parties will also set up joint working groups to draft individual agreements.
In addition, UZ and PKP have agreed that the transshipment of goods into wagons of a different gauge or the transfer of wagons to bogies of a different gauge will be carried out not only by the receiving carrier at a border station located in its state, but also by the delivering carrier at a border station located in its territory.
At the same time, freight trains in both directions will be serviced by locomotives and locomotive crews of both parties in compliance with the 50/50 parity.
On August 25, 2023 Standard-Rating withdrew the credit rating/financial strength rating of the insurer ODO Insurance Company ViDi Insurance (Kyiv) at the company’s request, the agency’s website reports.
As reported, on February 27, 2022 RA Standard-Rating suspended the credit rating of the company at its request due to the introduction of martial law.
It was also noted that the rating could be restored by the company’s decision at any time.
Later, according to the results of the insurer’s activity in the nine months of 2022, RA “Standard-Rating” updated the company’s credit rating/rating of financial stability (reliability) of the insurer on the national scale at the level “uaAA”.
IC “ViDi Insurance” has been working in the insurance market since 2007, the main specialization – motor insurance.
The Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine approved a roadmap for the introduction of health insurance by order of August 25, the ministry’s website reported on Monday.
According to the report, it is proposed to add a system of additional health insurance to the current system of financing healthcare in Ukraine at the expense of the state budget as a potential source of financial resources for the healthcare sector. This is because, due to the negative economic consequences of Russia’s large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, the available financial resources are insufficient to meet the needs of citizens for sufficient quantity and quality of medical services.
The main advantages of additional health insurance, according to the Ministry of Health, include expanded access to additional services, improved quality of treatment not covered by the medical guarantees program, faster access to specialist doctors, coverage of expensive medicines and treatments, or access to additional medical services.
The additional health insurance is expected to help reduce the burden on the state budget in the healthcare sector, increase the choice of healthcare providers, insurers and insurance packages, which promotes competition in the insurance market and improves the quality of services provided by insurers, and attract private capital that can support the development and modernization of healthcare facilities and infrastructure.
According to the order, important steps to increase the role of additional health insurance should include: a clear definition of medical services not covered by the medical guarantees program, as well as other cases in which medical services can be provided to patients at the expense of individuals and legal entities. To this end, the Ministry of Health, together with the expert community, will develop the necessary regulations to determine the cases in which additional health insurance can complement rather than duplicate the medical guarantees program.
In addition, the development of pharmaceutical insurance, which provides for reimbursement of expenses for the purchase of medicines and/or medical devices, is also envisaged. This type of insurance is intended to protect patients from high costs of medicines, especially in cases where expensive or long-term treatment outside the state guarantee program is required.
To address these challenges, the Ministry of Healthcare, together with associations of insurers, banking institutions and other interested organizations, will establish cooperation in the field of additional medical insurance of the population’s expenses related to the provision of medicines and medical devices. In particular, joint activities are planned to enhance communication and find ways to resolve problematic issues, including simplifying the mechanisms for introducing additional health insurance and raising public awareness through information campaigns.
The Interdepartmental Commission for the distribution of the first tranche of the European Investment Bank (EIB) funds recommends to allocate UAH 1.5 billion for the implementation of 140 reconstruction projects in the regions of Ukraine, the press service of the Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Restoration) reported.
According to the report, it is about the balance of funds received in 2022 from the EIB in the state budget and which will be directed to new budgetary programs by the decision of the government.
At a meeting on August 28, the commission considered proposals to finance 165 projects for UAH 1.9 billion and agreed on the allocation of funds for 140 eligible projects.
Thus, 49 projects for the development of project documentation were selected, 27 – rehabilitation of health care facilities, 19 – educational institutions, 16 – civil defense facilities, eight – water supply and drainage facilities, two – heat supply.
The leaders in the number of agreed projects were Chernihiv (40 projects), Kherson (14), Donetsk (16), Zaporizhzhya and Mykolayiv regions (9 each).
As reported, in June 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution on the Procedure and Conditions for Distribution of EIB funds in the amount of UAH 4.4 billion. According to this decision, the Ministry of Rehabilitation is determined as the main administrator of funds and responsible executor of subventions from the state budget to local budgets. Priority is given to those regions that suffered the most as a result of the armed aggression or experienced the greatest burden due to a significant influx of internally displaced persons.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to visit Russian Federation next week and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the renewal of the Black Sea grain agreement, Bloomberg wrote Monday, citing information from two Turkish officials familiar with the matter.
“Erdogan may travel to Russia on Sept. 8 before heading to India to attend the G-20 summit in New Delhi, the interlocutors said. The Turkish presidential administration declined to comment to Bloomberg,” the report said.
State-owned Oschadbank has canceled the 1% conversion fee on transactions with its cards abroad, the bank’s CEO Sergey Naumov said.
“It has become even more favorable to use our payment means in other countries,” he wrote in Telegram.
Naumov added that the bank also automatically extended until December 31 the validity of cards that were to expire after February 2022, including cards for internally displaced persons.
“These cards are fully functional: you can pay with them in the trade and service network, withdraw cash from them at ATMs and the like,” – specified the head of the Board.
The previous time Oschadbank extended the validity of cards for three months at the end of May.
As indicated by the National Bank in the report for 2022, the leaders in Ukraine in the issuance of payment cards are state-owned PrivatBank and Oschadbank – respectively 43.8% and 15.4%, as well as Universal Bank (mono) – 13.2%.
In general, according to the NBU data, in 2022 the total number of issued payment cards in Ukraine increased by 23.2% – from 89.1 million pcs to 109.8 million pcs, while a year earlier – by 21.3%.
At the same time, the total number of active bank cards, after reaching a historic high of 47.2m units at the end of March this year, decreased by 0.6m units, or 1.3%, to 46.6m units in April-June, according to the National Bank.
