The meeting of the Presidents of Ukraine and the United States, Volodymyr Zelensky and Joseph Biden, will take place on August 31 in Washington, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“In connection with the extension of the elements of the visit program, the meeting of the heads of state of Ukraine and the United States, Presidents Biden and Zelensky, will take place on August 31,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Thursday.
The minister said that it was agreed to postpone the date of the meeting, in particular, due to the fact that the format of the meeting of the presidents was expanded, and now it will envisage not only a meeting of delegations, but also a face-to-face meeting. According to him, the head of the Ukrainian state will begin a visit to the United States at the invitation of the President of the United States on August 30 and will visit not only the capital of Washington, but also the state of California.
“The agenda will include a number of important events in Washington DC and the state of California. These are two basic points for the president’s visit. No president of Ukraine has been so far in the United States before, never visited another U.S. coast in the Pacific Ocean, although it is the state of California where the largest IT companies, high-tech space industry is located, and this is exactly where Ukraine has strong trump cards,” he said.
Kuleba added that the president would visit the state of California to create new opportunities for interaction between the United States and Ukraine in these areas and attract new U.S. investments in the Ukrainian economy.
On August, 21, 22, 23 and 24 Ancient Kyiv in the Principality of Kyivan Rus («Kyivan Rus Park») invites to a grandiose celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine. A bright show-program on historical theme, horse-trick performances, Slavic amusements, master-classes, tasty dishes prepared on open fire, horse riding and much more from the life of Kyivan Rus will be waiting for the guests.
Ancient Kyiv opens at 10:00. The program starts at 14:00.
The ticket price: a full adult ticket – 230 UAH, for pensioners and students – 150 UAH, for schoolchildren – 80 UAH, for preschool children – for free.
Ancient Kyiv in the «Kyivan Rus Park» is located in Kyiv region, Obukhiv district, the vill. Kopachiv.
Details on the website www.parkkyivrus.com
The Interfax subscribers can save money with the “openbusiness-20” promo code for a 20%-discount for a full price adult ticket to the Principality of Kyivan Rus:
– by previous order by tel.: +38 044 461-99-37, +38 050 385-20-35
– or at the cash desk at the entrance to the «Kyivan Rus Park».
The average consumer price of sunflower oil in Ukraine in July for the first time in the 2020/21 year (September-August) fell by 0.34% compared to June, to UAH 64.73 per liter, in retail chains the product is present in a wide range and in sufficient volumes, according to the website of the Ukroliyaprom association.
“For the first time in the entire current year, there has been a decrease in the selling prices for sunflower oil by its producers. In particular, compared to May of this year, in July, the selling prices of enterprises for unrefined sunflower oil fell by 9.2%, and for refined oil, by 4.2% [respectively to UAH 37.4 per liter and UAH 41. per liter],” the association said.
According to the association, the domestic market of Ukraine consumes up to 10% of the sunflower oil produced in the country.
Ukroliyaprom said that the enterprises of the oil and fat industry of Ukraine are pursuing a balanced pricing policy, ensuring the priority of sunflower oil supplies to retail chains over export supplies. In retail chains, this product is present in a wide range and in volumes that meet the needs of the population.
On August 16, Ukraine received 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Greek government, on August 18, 650,400 doses of the same vaccine from Poland and 46,000 doses from Lithuania as humanitarian aid, the Ministry of Health reported on Facebook.
According to the report, part of the vaccine from these supplies would be used to vaccinate those who should receive the second dose of AstraZeneca, the rest will be distributed between vaccination centers and vaccination points.
AstraZeneca is a COVID-19 vector vaccine manufactured in the EU, UK, South Korea and India. It is approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 19/08/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Investments in the construction sector of Ukraine in the next three years could reach $2 billion, the founder and president of City One Development, Valeriy Kodetsky, told Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the results of CC Forum Monaco Global Investment in Sustainable Development held in July.
“The world business positively evaluates the initiated reforms in the construction sector of Ukraine. However, the main measure will be not only nominal reform, but its real effectiveness. Forum participants predict that Ukraine will be able to attract up to $2 billion in the next three years with an annual progress of up to 20%,” Kodetsky, who was the only representative of Ukraine at this event, said.
According to the expert, the participants of the CC Forum estimated the investment potential of the Ukrainian construction industry at no less than $50 billion. At the same time, “powerful foreign investors” are primarily interested in the creation of new factories and production facilities, participation in large infrastructure projects and the implementation of projects in the commercial and residential real estate segments.
One of the important directions for the development of domestic development, according to Kodetsky, may be the reorientation of business processes towards the creation of a high-tech closed cycle for the production of modern construction equipment and materials that correspond to global trends in environmental safety and energy conservation.
“Thanks to foreign partners, for 10 years Ukraine can fully provide itself with everything necessary not only for the development of the construction sector, it is capable of reaching a new technological level. This is primarily about setting up the production of building materials through the introduction of energy-saving environmental technologies,” he said.
According to the expert, the annual demand of the Ukrainian market for float glass is more than 100 million square meters and almost 100% is covered by imports, and 80% of this volume is used in the construction sector.
Kodetsky said that in the near future, thanks to foreign investors, the construction of a float glass plant could begin, which could potentially satisfy up to 30% of the domestic construction market. The volume of foreign investments in this production could be more than $80 million with a payback period of five or six years. The profitability of the plant will be over 30%.
According to his forecasts, over the next two years, the growth of float glass production may reach 3-5% annually. The expert said that the estimated cost of domestic float glass will be 15-20% lower than exported, which will allow developers to redirect the released funds to improve the quality of construction projects, increase the level of builders’ wages, etc.
“The establishment of high-tech closed production processes will reduce the cost of building materials by 25-30%. Part of these costs can go to improve the quality of projects in various segments of real estate,” he said.
At the same time, the expert drew attention to the fact that effective reforms in construction will significantly reduce the “corruption burden” on developers, and the released financial resources could be reassigned to social responsibility programs, as well as to increase salaries in the construction sector.
“According to our calculations, salaries in construction as one of the main driving spheres of the Ukrainian economy in the next two years may grow by at least 30-40%,” Kodetsky said.
The president of City One Development recalled that now more than 1 million of our fellow citizens are forced to work in the construction sphere in Eastern Europe. Moreover, the “net” earnings of a builder, depending on qualifications, are on average 30-40% higher than in Ukraine. He believes that an increase in wages by at least a third can return up to 200,000-300,000 compatriots to the domestic construction market.
“The development of construction now depends on the effectiveness of the implemented reforms and the creation of opportunities for attracting foreign investment. It is the construction sector that can become a driving force for sustainable economic and social development of our state,” Kodetsky said.
In turn, Tetiana Shulha-Zabelska, Managing Partner of the Residential Estate Development Community (RED Community), said in a commentary that the main goal of the CC Forum was to determine the main directions of sustainable development of society and business in the face of the existing challenges of counteracting global diseases and epidemics, changes climate, migration and the like.
“As for the investment attractiveness of Ukraine, global business leaders almost unanimously consider Ukraine one of the countries with the greatest development potential and attractive for long-term investments,” she said.
According to Shulha-Zabelska, most of the investments (more than 40%) will be spent on the development of large-scale projects to create technology parks and facilities for the production of modern building materials. About 35% of the funds raised can go to infrastructure facilities, and 25% of investments will directly relate to commercial and residential real estate projects.
“The Ukrainian strategy for attracting foreign funds should be inextricably linked to global trends in sustainable development, the implementation of global trends in the construction industry, an increase in jobs with an increase in the income of citizens of the country,” she said.
City One Development is an investment and development company that provides a range of services in the field of creation and development of real estate facilities.
Founded in 2017, the RED Community brings together over 30 leading residential developers.
