The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today $100 million in Additional Financing for the country’s COVID-19 response under the Ukraine Access to Long Term Finance Project, the funds of which will be used to support export-oriented small and medium-sized businesses.
“The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today $100 million in Additional Financing for the country’s COVID-19 response under the Ukraine Access to Long Term Finance Project,” the WB said on Saturday.
The Ukrainian state-owned Ukreximbank (UEB) is a borrower and implementing agency of the ongoing Bank project, the message reads.
“Bank project, Access to Long Term Finance, and the additional funds will be used by the UEB to provide loans to export-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is focused on providing sub-loans of longer maturity than are currently present on the market,” the WB said.
“These new loans from Ukreximbank will create jobs, stimulate competitiveness, help Ukrainian companies find new customers abroad, increase revenues, and contribute to poverty reduction as Ukraine recovers from the pandemic,” the bank’s press service quoted Arup Banerji, World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe, as saying.
Implemented since the summer of 2018, the ongoing $150 million Access to Long Term Finance Project has already had a positive effect on Ukraine’s SME sector. More than 50 entrepreneurs from all over Ukraine had already received financial support as part of the project. The majority of SMEs supported by the project work in agriculture and food processing industries, where Ukraine’s exporters hold natural comparative advantages and where SMEs traditionally dominate. The project also provided loans to firms in various production industries: manufacturing of mining equipment and refrigerators, dental and electric equipment, plastic packaging, wood processing, carpet-weaving, etc.
The World Bank’s current investment project portfolio in Ukraine amounts to about $3.3 billion, in 11 ongoing investment projects and one Program for Results operation.
The State Automobile Road Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) and U.S. Bechtel Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the implementation of a project to build a bypass road around Kyiv, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported on its Facebook page on Friday.
“The Kyiv bypass road is one of the key objects of the president’s Big Construction program, because its creation will help solve the painful transport problems of Kyiv, improve international road traffic. Joint work of Ukravtodor and one of the leaders of infrastructure projects in the world will find the best technical and financial solutions for the implementation of the project,” the press service said, citing Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov.
This project provides for the construction of a half-ring with a total length of about 150 km. This will help move transit traffic flows of vehicles outside Kyiv and will connect the key highways M-07 Kyiv – Kovel, M-06 Kyiv – Chop, M-05 Kyiv – Odesa and N-01 Kyiv – Znamianka. It will further connect highways N-08 Boryspil – Mariupol and M-03 Kyiv – Kharkiv and bypass Brovary.
Since the end of 2020, Ukravtodor has begun the development of design documentation, including land allocation, for sections of the bypass road: section one – from M-07 Kyiv – Kovel – Yahodyn to M-06 Kyiv – Chop with a length of 18.1 km; section two – from M-06 Kyiv – Chop to M-05 Kyiv – Odesa (35.2 km); section three – from М-05 Kyiv – Odesa to Н-01 Kyiv – Znamianka with a length of 22.9 km; section four – the construction of a bridge over the Dnipro River with approaches to H-01 Kyiv – Znamianka and Hora – Rohoziv (25.7 km); section five – from Hora – Rohoziv to M-03 Kyiv – Kharkiv (9.7 km).
Currently, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure, three sections are already being designed, and tender procedures are underway for one more section.
Bechtel Overseas Corporation is a global leader in engineering, procurement and construction.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has requested $58.5 billion for fiscal 2022 to support the activities of the Department of State and its goals, according to a document published by the U.S. Department of State on Friday. “The President’s Budget for FY 2022 requests $58.5 billion for the Department of State and USAID,” the message reads.
It is noted that this is 10% higher than the final budget of the State Department in fiscal 2021.
“These resources will position us to advance the Administration’s foreign policy agenda on behalf of the American people. It also reflects the importance the Administration places on U.S. global leadership and the fact that diplomacy and development are vital tools for advancing U.S. interests,” the U.S. Department of State said.
According to the document, it is proposed to allocate a total of $665.8 million for spending in the European region and Eurasia, which, in particular, will help strengthening the resilience of countries to foreign malevolent influence and promoting Euro-Atlantic integration, confronting the growing challenges from Russia and China.
Thus, $88 million of this amount is planned to be allocated to support the democratization of Georgia, its economic development and the creation of resilience to resisting the malicious influence of the Kremlin. In addition, $255 million will be spent on aid to Ukraine to strengthen its ability to withstand Russian aggression. To counter Russian influence and disinformation in the Western Balkans, according to the document, $106 million is required.
Assets of credit unions in January-March 2021 grew by 1%, to UAH 2.355 billion, according to a review of the non-banking financial sector published on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Friday.
According to the review, the number of registered credit unions at the end of the first quarter of 2021 was 316, which is 1.9% less than at the end of 2020, and 5.8% less than at the end of the first quarter of 2020.
Liabilities of credit unions since the beginning of this year have grown by 0.2%, to UAH 1.29 billion, including the amount of liabilities, on which interest is accrued, by 0.8%, to UAH 1.19 billion.
Credit unions’ revenues in January-March remained at the level of the first quarter of last year and amounted to UAH 220 million, while expenses decreased 22.3%, to UAH 209 million.
Revenue of credit unions was linked to a decrease in payments to loan loss reserves, as well as due to a decrease in the ratio of operating expenses to operating income.
Equity capital of credit unions for the first quarter of 2021 grew by 52.6%, to UAH 1 billion.
As the NBU said, the unsatisfactory financial performance of credit unions leads to a significant number of violators of the requirements. In particular, in January-March, nine credit unions violated capital adequacy requirements.
Fifteen original events about wine, winemaking and gastronomy tourism took place as part of Odessa Wine Week in Odesa from May 18 to May 23.
The event was attended by 87 speakers and experts from Ukraine (from Odesa to Zakarpattia) and from 18 countries (from Austria to Japan).
The event aroused great interest of wine, tourist, business and media communities – about 3,000 visitors attended the locations of Odessa Wine Week these days.
The program consisted of activities of various directions: industry, cross-industry, educational, mass. In particular, the congress part included more than 40 topics of reports and discussions.
Wine Future Forum
Winemakers, marketers, journalists discussed the prospects of the wine industry.
In particular, the discussion “The Future of Wine: the View of Winemakers” was attended by the winemaker in the fifth generation, chief winemaker of Chateau Changyu Moser XV Lenz Moser (Austria), CEO of SHABO winery Giorgi Iukuridze (Ukraine, Odesa), owner of Vinos de La Luz group of companies Ricardo Nunez (Argentina), the owner of Stakhovsky craft winery, number one tennis player in Ukraine Serhiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine, Zakarpattia), the winemaker, CEO of “PIERA 1899” Piera Martellozzo (Italy).
As a result of the discussion, the winemakers came to such conclusions about the future of wine: wine brands will become more personalized, trends on rose and sparkling wine are likely to continue, online tastings will not be able to replace traditional ones, in Ukraine, the consumption of Ukrainian wine will grow (this will not happen tomorrow, but in the near future), and there will be more wineries in Ukraine.
Participants in the forum also discussed, listened to reports and presentations in the panel “Government, grants, banking programs to support winemaking. Investments in winemaking.” They listened to fellow winemakers from Ukraine and Moldova, marketers and economists, Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Roman Leschenko. They learned from foreign participants about their experience, investment and government programs to support winemaking in Argentina and Valpolicella region (Italy).
In the panel discussions “Promotion of the brand “Ukrainian wine.” Creating a wine business card of Ukraine,” the experts discussed how to crack the prejudice of Ukrainian consumers to Ukrainian wine. They discussed how to write and talk about wine in a fascinating and professional way. They offered ways to create and promote the “Ukrainian wine” brand. They decided what honest winemaking was – business, creativity or suicide.
In Ukraine, they finally talked about wine journalism – the first discussion panel on this topic was held at the Wine Future Forum. Can Ukrainian wine journalism help winemakers to create and promote the “Ukrainian wine” brand? What do we need for this? We were looking for an answer to this, and the idea of creating the Association/Bureau for the Development of Wine and Brand Journalism arose.
All-Ukrainian tasting contest “Odessa Wine & Spirit Awards”
Some 65 Ukrainian companies (305 wine samples) took part in the competition.
The evaluation used a specialized tasting program of the English company Gustos Life, which uses blockchain technology (eliminates the possibility of changing the ratings of experts during the competition and after its completion).
A feature of the competition examination is a combination of the methodology of sensory analysis and the work of the jury, which consisted of 16 qualified and certified experts. The work of the jury could be watched live.
According to the results of the competition in the category of wines, 30 wines won gold medals, 49 wines won silver medals, while in the category of strong drinks there were seven gold medals and seven silver ones.
The winners of the competition are given the right to place the logo of the award on the product label.
A solemn ceremony of awarding the winners was held with the participation of national and regional media, wine and business communities.
“Best Riedel glass for Odessa Black variety”
This competitive project is aimed at promoting the brand “Ukrainian wine,” the formation of the image of Odessa Black wine as a business card of Ukrainian winemaking in the world – by analogy with Saperavi (Georgia), Feteasca (Moldova), Malbec (Argentina), Carmenere (Chile), Shiraz (Australia) and others.
Some 32 samples of wine from the autochthonous grape variety “Odessa Black” were submitted to the competition.
During the project, the best glass of the world-famous Riedel brand was officially chosen for the local wine “Odessa Black.” From nine variants of glasses, wine experts chose glass № 4 from the Performance collection.
The best wine from the “Odessa Black” variety was Aliberne Reserve Limited Edition, 2017, Gigineishvili Wine House. The Ukrainian native received the first official glass.
Tasting
– Ricardo Nunez, a winemaker with extensive experience, the owner of the Vinos de La Luz group of companies (wineries in Spain, Italy, Argentina, the United States), conducted an author’s tasting of eight wines of his international company.
– Circular tastings were held by 18 wine companies of Ukraine – partners and participants of Odessa Wine Week.
– Tasting on alternative aging under Bousinage technology was conducted by Wood International LLC.
The conference “Innovative tools in viticulture in the context of climate change” brought together leading winegrowers and oenologists from Ukraine, Moldova, France, Italy and the United States. This is a very important professional event for winegrowers, during which experts shared methods of ensuring sustainable viticulture, discussed current issues of the industry and ways to solve them.
OENOVITI International Network 2021 international symposium
The online symposium was attended by 18 scientists from 15 countries on five continents.
Topic: “Challenges in viticulture and oenology: geographical indications of wines and wine tourism, authenticity, innovation.”
OENOVITI International Network (OIN) is a unique international community of researchers in the field of viticulture and winemaking. Ukraine has been represented by the Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies in this prestigious scientific institution since 2015.
“Enogastronomic tourism – a driver for the development of tourist destinations”
Organizer: Department of Culture and Tourism of Odesa City Council.
The conference brought together representatives of tourism, restaurant and wine industries, who discussed enogastronomic tourism as a growing sector of the world tourism market.
They listened to thorough reports on grant projects in the field of enogastronomic tourism, in particular, on the “Wine and Taste Road,” on tools for the promotion of enogastronomic roads and wine tourism operators in Ukraine, on the experience of author’s tours.
Participants in the discussion “Wine and Tourism” talked about wine as a driver of regional development on the example of Bordeaux, watched presentations of wine and enogastronomic locations of Ukraine (Wine Culture Center SHABO, Chateau Chizay, Wine Station, Koblevo wine location) and the United States (Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery).
Participants in the discussion “Odesa cuisine – a tourist magnet of the region” talked about the phenomenon of Odesa cuisine, identified the top five dishes of local Odesa cuisine and offered ideas for the promotion of Odesa cuisine in the world.
The moderators and participants in Odessa Wine Week events were high-class professionals: Yevhenia Nikolaichuk (the co-founder of “Like a Local’s Wine Bar,” a sommelier school teacher, WSET4), Tetiana Ponomarenko (the expert in wine marketing, advertising and PR, an associate professor of journalism, advertising and publishing of Odesa Mechnikov National University, the coordinator of projects on wine journalism), Volodymyr Pechko (the head of UKRSADVINPROM), Vladyslav Blumberg (the president of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Odesa region), Ivan Bachurin (the president of the Association of Sommelier of Ukraine), Anna Sarkisyan (the dean of the Faculty of Wine and Tourism at the Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies), Maksim Urakin (the sales and marketing director at Interfax-Ukraine and the editor of Open4Business), Maria Kalenska (an enogastronomic expert, the ambassador of Odesa cuisine in London).
At Odessa Wine Week, the exposure area was organized with the participation of Ukrainian wine companies and producers of goods, services and technologies related to winemaking.
All the main events of Odessa Wine Week took place in the halls of Premier Hotel Odesa and even in the open air in front of the hotel (the AGSOLCO Ukraine exposition).
For the general public, the highlight of the program was the project “Wine Flight” (“Air Tasting”), a horizontal flight with tasting the top five Ukrainian wines and culinary specialties of Odesa cuisine on board the UIA aircraft.
This is a joint project of Odessa Wine Week and UIA to promote the “Ukrainian wine” brand.
The air tasting was attended by 130 guests, the UIA team, sommelier Hanna-Yevhenia Yanchenko, brand chef of Le grand cafe Bristol Hotel 5* Odesa Stefan Whiteinadan and showman Kolya Serga.
The passengers tasted the best five Ukrainian wines according to the tasting contest “Odessa Wine & Spirit Awards,” which took place the day before as part of Odessa Wine Week:
Cabernet Grande Reserve, 2017 – SHABO;
El Captain Pinot Gris, 2019 – 46 Parallel;
Riesling Rhine, 2016 – Prince Trubetskoi Winery;
Riesling, 2019 – Villa Tinta;
Aliberne Reserve Limited Edition, 2017 – Gigineishvili Wine House.
Wine tasting was combined with the tasting of local dishes of Odesa cuisine.
The Odessa Wine Week program ended with the open-air gastronomic festival “Taki Da, Vkusno” on the territory of the Odesa film studio. The participants in the festival presented to the mass audience of visitors branded culinary products and wine brands.
The Odessa Wine Week project received strong partner support. Odessa Wine Week partners took part in the events, shared their experience and opportunities, and joined the organization of events. The fact that so many leading organizations and companies have joined the event is a very positive sign that gives faith in the good future of Ukrainian winemaking.
The general news partner of Odessa Wine Week is Interfax-Ukraine
Official support
– Odesa Regional State Administration
– Odessa City Council
Authors of the Odessa Wine Week concept:
– Expo-Yug-Service Company
– Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies
Odessa Wine Week organizers:
– Expo-Yug-Service Company
– Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies
– UKRSADVINPROM association
General partner: SHABO company
Official partner hotel: Premier Hotel Odesa
Innovative partner: AGSOLCO Ukraine
General media partner: Drinks+ communicative media group
Partners:
– JMJ Oak Alternative
– Goodwill Consulting: financial consulting for winemaking business
– Koblevo trademark
– ODESSA champagne of Ukraine trademark
– Wine and Taste Roads project
– Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Odesa region
– Frumushika-Nova family winery
– Aromic-Aromafishki company
Scientific partner: Tairov Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking
Digital partner: Gustos Life
Multimedia partner: Sertsevyna
Information partners:
– Wine Guide of Ukraine project
– Technologies and Innovations media group
– Odesa Life city edition
Printing partner: ALFA PRESS printing house
Wine Flight project partner (Air Tasting): UIA
Information support:
▪ Airport Odessa magazine
▪ Facebook public “Wine of Ukraine”
▪ Open4Business.com.ua
▪ Easy Quizzy
The official photographer of Odessa Wine Week is Arsen Fedosenko
Organizer of the conference “Enogastronomic tourism – a driver for the development of tourist destinations”: the Department of Culture and Tourism of Odesa City Council
Organizers of the project “Best Riedel glass for Odessa Black variety”:
▪ RIEDEL company
▪ MIRS Corporation is the official distributor of RIEDEL in Ukraine
▪ Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies
▪ IKPMG Limited, Maria Kalenska
Organizers of the “Wine Flight” project (“Air Tasting”): UIA and Odessa Wine Week.
General project partners: Crédit Agricole Bank and MasterCard.
Project partners: MIRS Corporation – the official distributor of RIEDEL in Ukraine, Bristol Hotel 5* Odesa, Odesa International Airport.
Organizer of the conference “Innovative tools in viticulture in the context of climate change”: UKRSADVINPROM association
Organizers of the OENOVITI International Network symposium:
Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies, Ukraine
OENOVITI International Network, Bordeaux, France
Project details: https://odessawineweek.com/
Project news: https://www.facebook.com/odessawineweek/
Ancient Kyiv in the Principality of Kyivan Rus («Kyivan Rus Park») invites you to spend the Day of Kyiv in a real, live medieval city with horse performances, interactive programme, traditional Slavic amusements, horseback riding, tasty dishes from fire and an outdoor picnic.
The program will pass in compliance with the quarantine measures.
Ancient Kyiv opens at 10:00. The program will start around 13:30.
* The program may change
Ancient Kyiv is located in a 45-minutes` drive from modern Kyiv – Kyiv region, Obukhiv district, the vill. Kopachiv.
You can get by your own car or by public transport. The schedule of route taxis check on the «Obukhivtrans» website or on the «Kyivan Rus Park» website in the «Contacts» section.
The ticket price: a full adult ticket –230 UAH, for pensioners and students – 150 UAH, for schoolchildren – 80 UAH, for preschool children – for free.
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».
