Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said about his vision of how to make Ukraine the really rich country and called on business to invest money, time and ideas in Ukraine.
“We are carefully studying the experience of countries that are successful. We understand that they, first of all, invested in education, technology and infrastructure. Ukraine will do the same. Therefore, the role of the state in the economy in the next five years will be reduced to three things: do not interfere business; to build an excellent infrastructure for business and create conditions for doing business in Ukraine was simply convenient; third, focus on education, science and technology,” he said at a meeting with the business community in Kyiv.
Zelensky said that he was not used to catching up, therefore he is looking for creative breakthrough and innovative solutions for Ukraine with his team, and will tell more about them in the near future.
The president said that “to turn from a poor country into a middle-income country is not so difficult.” “The recipes are simple, success stories are known. All these is a mandatory program for us, and we will do it in the next five years,” he said.
At the same time, Zelensky is convinced that Ukraine needs to become a “truly rich country.”
“According to the World Bank, in 1960 there were 101 countries that are developing, and only 13 of them were able to become developed rich countries. In addition, most of them did it at the expense of natural resources. Economists have a special term: “middle income trap.” Its essence is very simple: poor countries compete with cheap labor. As soon as a country receives an average level of income, competitive advantages disappear and the country ceases to develop rapidly. According to this scenario, the country almost never becomes rich, the highest level is “medium,” he explained.
“Half a year ago I decided to invest the most precious thing I have – my time – in Ukraine. I urge you to do the same: invest time, money, ideas in Ukraine. Let’s change Ukraine together!” Zelensky said, addressing business at the end of his speech.
BUSINESS, EDUCATION, INVEST, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES, ZELENSKY
Grigeo, one of the leading cardboard and wood board manufacturers in the Baltic states, which owns the Ukrainian corrugated packaging manufacturer PJSC Mena Paсk (Mena, Chernihiv region), has attracted EUR30 million of investments from INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund to develop cardboard business, according to a press release from Grigeo.
The corresponding agreement was signed on June 10 by Grigeo AB, which controls the cardboard business of the group, and BSGF Salvus, a subsidiary of INVL Baltic, and provides for phased investments of up to EUR30 million in Grigeo investicijų valdymas (a 100% subsidiary of Grigeo AB) with the acquisition of 49.99% of its shares. The transaction must be completed after the fulfillment of the contractual conditions, subject to approval by the Competition Council.
In addition to Ukraine’s Mena Pack, Grigeo Group includes enterprises in Lithuania and Latvia, namely Grigeo Klaipeda (owns 100% of Mena Pack) and Grigeo Recycling. According to the group’s plans, taking into account the growth in demand for cardboard and products from it, it intends to triple the production capacity in five years.
Mena Pack, which has been operating in the corrugated packaging market for over 30 years, produces corrugated packaging made of three-layer corrugated cardboard for tobacco, food and construction industries.
The public union “All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas” and Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivschyna party have signed a memorandum of cooperation in lawmaking in the newly elected parliament: human rights activists and MPs committed themselves to jointly lobby bills to help solve the problems of Donbas residents and displaced people. The signing of the memorandum took place on June 20, 2019 on the World Refugee Day. The document provides for the development and consolidation of the state strategy of assistance to the residents of Donbas, the gradual implementation of a comprehensive policy to restore peace and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
“The aggressive attitude towards people, inattention, and detachment from problems is unacceptable. The new government is obliged to view it in a completely different way and take real steps to help all its citizens,” Tymoshenko believes.
“The pressing issues for Ukrainians from Donbas are: the lack of permanent housing, restrictions in the passing of the contact line, legislative gaps in the issuing of identity documents, non-payment of pensions,” head of the All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas Hennadiy Borysychiv said.
The parties agreed on the need to create an international fund for the restoration and development of Donbas, where donor funds will be used exclusively for the intended purposes.
“Over the past five years, international donors have provided the Ukrainian authorities with about $1 billion in assistance to support the affected residents of Donbas and damaged infrastructure. However, they were inefficient: some money was stolen, and some were simply redistributed to other state needs, which is a crime against affected people. In addition, it undermines the credibility of donor states to Ukraine,” Borysychiv said.
The All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas is a public union that united organizations and coalitions of internally displaced persons in order to protect and restore their rights.
ALL-UKRAINIAN PLATFORM OF DONBAS, BORYSYCHIV, IDPS, TYMOSHENKO'S
The transport companies of Ukraine in January-May 2019 reduced passenger traffic by 5.9% compared with January-April 2018, to 1.796 billion people, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to its data, passenger turnover over the period amounted to 42 billion passenger-kilometers, which is 4.3% more than a year ago.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-May 2019, 63.1 million passengers were carried by rail (including the city train), which is 0.1% less than in January-May 2018, and 761.8 million passengers by road (5.6% less).
Airlines raised passenger traffic by 10.6%, to 4.6 million people.
In addition, according to the State Statistics Service, in January-May 2019 some 262.5 million passengers used trams (a decrease of 9.6% compared with January-May 2018), subways carried 298.6 million (a decrease of 1.2%), while trolleybuses 405.7 million (a fall of 8.4%).
Transportation of passengers by water transport grew by 3.3%, to 0.1 million.
According to the State Statistics Service, the data is provided excluding the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as part of temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Pelidona Services Limited (Cyprus) from Smart-Holding of Ukrainian MP and businessman Vadim Novinsky has increased its stake in Regal Petroleum Plc with assets in Ukraine from 54% to 82.65%, and companies from the EastOne Group of Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk sold the shares to the Smart-Holding’s company.
“A stake in the amount of 91.868 million shares was bought out from the major shareholder of Regal Petroleum Plc – Kylestone Limited – as part of the implementation of Smart-Holding’s fossil fuel production business development strategy. Pelidona Services Limited does not intend to continue the further buyout of shares in the market,” Smart-Holding said in a press release of on Friday.
“We confirm the fact of the deal to sell Regal Petroleum’s shares. The transaction was carried out as part of the portfolio strategy of the EastOne Group. We remain in the oil and gas sector of Ukraine, continue focusing on the development of assets under the group’s mandate, and exploring new opportunities,” EastOne, which includes Geo Alliance Group, a large gas and condensate producer in Ukraine, told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the information on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) website, on the AIM platform where Regal Petroleum shares are traded, their quotations on June 20 (closure) were 39.95 pence. At that price the transaction could be valued at GBP 36.7 million (about $46.6 million).
“The results of the transaction will not affect the corporate governance of Regal Petroleum and its status as a public company. No changes are planned for the board of directors,” Smart Holding said in the press release.
The holding said that Regal Petroleum shows good performance and will continue being the basis of gas production, and its development strategy provides for both organic business growth by increasing production at existing fields and the acquisition of new assets.
“Smart-Holding is confident that deeper integration with public platforms for placement of shares is a tool for increasing capitalization, this will give gas production businesses greater stability and will open additional opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation with new institutional investors,” Smart-Holding said.
In a stock exchange report on Friday, the majority shareholder said that the long-term development and growth of Regal Petroleum at AIM may also include expanding the shareholder base in the future.
Poland is ready to launch a gas pipeline with a transmission capacity of 2 billion cubic meters, which will connect the Polish gas transmission system (GTS) with the Ukrainian one in Hermanowice (Poland), the zn.ua (Mirror Weekly) ezine reported on Thursday.
“We are ready to launch the gas pipeline, if necessary, which will connect the Polish system with the Ukrainian one in Hermanowice. Its capacity is 2 billion cubic meters. This is not much, but when Ukrainians need urgent help, we are ready to provide it,” the publication said, quoting a representative of the Polish government for the strategic energy infrastructure Piotr Naimski.
He also said that Poland is waiting for a decision from the Ukrainian side.
