Piraeus Bank Ukraine (PBU) has provided a loan of EUR 3.1 million to the Ukrainian producer of flexible packaging Tatrafan LLC (Lutsk), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) takes half of the risk on its books under the EBRD Risk Sharing Facility (RSF), according to an EBRD press release.“The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Piraeus Bank Ukraine (PBU) are joining forces to support Tatrafan LLC, a Ukrainian producer of flexible packaging. Tatrafan will use the financing to increase its production capacity as well as to cover working-capital and capital-expenditure needs,” the EBRD said in a statement on Monday.Tatrafan is part of a broader group of companies active in the production of plastic packaging in Bulgaria, Finland and the Slovak Republic. At the facilities in Lutsk, it manufactures flexible wrapping films, which are used to produce packaging for food and for fast-moving consumer goods.According to the information on the Tatrafan website, it is a joint venture of Finnish Ab Rani Plast Oy and Slovakian Chemosvit, a.s.In 2020, OOO Tatrafan received UAH 12.35 million of net profit against a small loss a year earlier with a 48.3% reduction in revenue to UAH 324.12 million.Piraeus Bank Ukraine is a subsidiary bank of the Greek Piraeus Group. Early 2020, the EBRD organized a financing package for PBU, which included a loan in local currency of up to the equivalent of $5 million for further lending to small businesses, as well as EUR 10 million of financing under the RDP.According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2021, Piraeus Bank ranked 38th in terms of total assets (UAH 4.62 billion) among 72 banks operating in the country.The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has invested more EUR 15.5 billion in 507 projects across the country.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said he will instruct the military to speed up the construction of the East naval base in the Azov Sea.
During a working trip to Berdiansk, Zaporizhia region, on Saturday, the minister and the Ukrainian Armed Forces chief commander Valeriy Zaluzhny inspected progress in construction of the base, berthing infrastructure and future barracks for the personnel of a separate marine infantry battalion.
“The development of our Navy in general is one of our priorities. To that end, not only public resources will be used, this will be a military diplomatic task of boosting interaction with partners. After the trip we will thoroughly analyze the current situation. Relevant instructions will be given to speed up the construction of the naval base in Berdiansk,” Reznikov said.
He recalled that two U.S. Island-class patrol boats were now en route to Ukraine.
“I will note that two Island-class boats are already on a mission as part of the national fleet. One should note our cooperation with Turkey, our strategic partner in the Black Sea. Recently, a Bayraktar unmanned system entered service in the navy and today a Turkish shipyard has started building the hull of the main ADA-class corvette for our navy. What is extremely relevant, I think, is that today the Ukrainian Navy is armed with the Neptune anti-ship [missile] system. I personally do whatever is in my control for this system to be deployed soon to patrol southern borders,” Reznikov said.
Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom Vadym Prystaiko, on behalf of the Cabinet of Ministers, signed a Ukrainian-British framework agreement providing for the allocation of funds for the construction of eight missile boats, the acquisition of two minesweepers from the United Kingdom, and the creation of two naval bases in Ukraine, the ZN.UA publication said on Saturday.
The signed agreement details the financial side of the agreements, that is the loan totaling GBP 1.7 billion provided to Ukraine by the U.K. for ten years.
Thanks to the U.K., Ukraine covers the primary needs of the country’s naval forces, which must be ready to contain Russia’s aggression from the Black and Azov Seas, ZN.UA said.
Agreements on the development and strengthening of the Ukrainian Navy were reached a year ago. During the last year’s visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to London, a memorandum on strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom in the military and military-technical sectors was signed. The memorandum stipulated the raising of financing from the UK’s export credit agency in the amount of GBP 1.25 billion. In the summer 2021, in Odesa, a memorandum on maritime partnership projects between the consortium of British industry and the Ukrainian Navy was signed.
The number of tourists entering the country has increased by 12.6% compared to the first three quarters of 2020; more than three million foreigners have arrived this year, the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine reported on Facebook on Saturday.As of October 2021, among the tourists visiting Ukraine, 70% were Europeans, 25.5% came from Asian countries, 3% were tourists from North America, 1.4% from African countries, 0.6% and 0.2% from Oceania and South America, respectively (while in the corresponding period of 2020, 79.2% came to Ukraine from Europe, 17.7% of tourists came from Asia, 1.5% – from North America, 0.7% – from Oceania and African countries each).The TOP-15 countries by the number of foreigners who entered Ukraine included: Moldova – 74,630 (of which tourists – 24.09%); Russia – 411,373 (13.31%), Poland – 209,039 (6.76%); Romania – 200,370 (6.48%); Belarus – 199,553 (6.46%); Turkey – 171,955 (5.56%); Hungary – 152, 390 (4.93%); Germany – 111,675 (3.61%); Israel – 96,250 (3.11%); U.S. – 81,581 (2.64%); Saudi Arabia – 48,660 (1.57%) Italy – 39,499 (1.28%); Great Britain – 37,384 (1.21%), India – 34,947 (1.13%); Azerbaijan – 33,410 (1.08%).
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal notes interest in developing cooperation with Slovakia in terms of information exchange between the customs authorities of both countries.”The head of the Ukrainian government stressed that Ukraine is interested in developing cooperation with Slovakia in the customs sphere. According to him, one of the topical areas of such cooperation is the exchange of information between the customs authorities of both countries and the implementation of a pilot project for the exchange of preliminary information,” the governmental press service said following a joint visit by Shmyhal and Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger to the Uzhgorod – Vyshne Nemetske checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Slovak border on Friday.Also, according to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, the issue of concluding agreements with Slovakia remains open, which will allow opening pedestrian and bicycle traffic through the checkpoint Uzhgorod – Vyshne Nemetske. “The relevant protocol is under consideration by the Slovak side. We look forward to a constructive discussion of these issues during our bilateral meetings,” said Shmyhal.
Scientists and doctors from Ukraine, the United States and Italy exchanged the results of the latest scientific research in the fight against coronavirus and confirmed the effectiveness of antiviral drugs in the fight against COVID-19.
“The problem of combating the pandemic is relevant both for Ukraine and for the whole world. In our country, the number of COVID-19 cases is growing daily. And although the immunization of the population is quite active, none of the vaccines guarantees that a person will not get sick. The issue of prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the early stages is now extremely relevant,” the scientists said, following the results of the scientific and practical conference entitled “New Treatment Strategies for COVID-19,” organized by the pharmaceutical company Farmak (Kyiv).
At the conference, scientists discussed the development of new and effective existing medicines that help treat patients with COVID-19. In particular, they paid special attention to the results of studies of antiviral drugs that demonstrated a therapeutic effect, shared their experience of partnership in the development of a direct-acting antiviral drug, talked about the prospects for the development of other antiviral drugs.
“How do antiviral drugs work? The virus is much smaller than bacteria, but this does not prevent it from destroying cells. People often mistakenly believe that antibiotics can neutralize the virus, but this is not the case. It is important to understand that antibiotics are effective only against certain types of bacteria. Antiviral agents are used to quickly and effectively deal with the virus. At the beginning of the disease, they reduce the symptoms and shorten the duration of the disease. It should also be understood that such drugs prevent it from multiplying,” the scientists said.
Italian scientist, doctor of the Ronzoni Institute for Chemical and Biochemical Research Stefano Elli, in particular, said that antiviral drugs have great potential in the fight against a pandemic. He presented a study showing the effect of Enisamium on SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Enisamium is better known as the active ingredient of Farmak pharmaceutical company.
“According to the results of preclinical and clinical studies, Enisamium has confirmed its effectiveness. Prescribing the drug to patients with moderate severity of COVID-19 made it possible to alleviate the course of the disease in the subjects, prevent the deterioration of its clinical condition, avoid deaths and shorten the length of hospital stay,” Elli said.
According to the representative of the state enterprise State Expert Center Pavlo Babich, the positive experience of using this drug is confirmed by the results of a study on its use among patients with moderate COVID-19.
“Studies have shown that an antiviral drug successfully used in the treatment of influenza and acute respiratory viral infections in 11 countries of the world and, as it was recently established, by the joint efforts of scientists from Ukraine, Germany, the U.K., is also clinically effective in moderate COVID-19. Indeed, the drug has a wide spectrum of antiviral action against RNA viruses that cause acute respiratory diseases by inhibiting the RNA polymerase enzyme of the virus, under the influence of which it replicates,” he said.
“According to the results of research by scientists from the United States, Italy and Ukraine, it can be summarized that antiviral drugs are a powerful weapon in overcoming and preventing the negative consequences of COVID-19,” the scientists said.
