The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allocates UAH 2.5 billion for construction of new dairy farms in Ukraine using the tool for distribution of funds to support the agro-industrial complex in 2018.
“We are sending UAH 2.5 billion for construction of dairy farms in the country. Using these funds we will provide loans to agro-industrial enterprises. The rate of these loans will be about 3% in hryvnias [with the term of up] to five years. This is enough, and all associations support this. Or we will compensate about 30% of the cost, if the credit resources of the commissioned facilities are not involved. Throughout this year, mass construction of farms, dairy complexes will begin. We will increase the number of livestock and the volume of products made,” Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
According to him, this year funds to support dairy livestock will be sent.
“We will compensate about UAH 1,500 per milk cow a year to all legal entities and manufacturers to increase milk production,” the prime minister said.
He said that now it is unprofitable to grow and keep cattle in the country, therefore the state plans to stimulate breeding of livestock.
The government plans to support gardeners and berry growers in 2018.
“Today’s decision means that 70% of the cost of planting material will be compensated by the state. The only requirement is that this planting material should be grown in Ukraine. We expect the creation of new gardens for 3,000 hectares,” the prime minister said.
This year UAH 1 billion is provided to support farmers. This money will be used to reduce the cost of loans for farms.
“Loans to farmers will be provided under the coordination of the Association of Farmers at 1% per annum in hryvnias. We plan the compensation for farmers of 40% of the cost of domestic agricultural machinery,” Groysman said.
In addition, the government allocates about UAH 1 billion for a program on compensation 20% of the cost of Ukrainian agricultural machinery to farmers.
Some 83 organizations from Ukraine, including higher education institutions, research organisations, and private sector, receives EUR 17.23 million from the EU within Horizon 2020 programme.
The EU Delegation to Ukraine wrote on its Facebook page that In total, 505 Ukrainian organizations participated in the preparation of 915 project proposals, expecting European Commission contribution of EUR 312.81 million.
These results classify Ukraine in the sixth place among Associated Countries in both: the number of participations, and gained contributions from European Commission.
“The potential of the country is bigger, though. Ukraine requires further reforms to create more favourable conditions for the intensification of cooperation between Ukrainian science and industry with partners from the EU and other countries involved in Horizon 2020,” the EU Delegation to Ukraine said.
Ukraine became a new member of Associated Countries (AC) in March 2015. Since then, Ukrainian organizations have been able to fully participate in Horizon 2020 on equal terms with the EU Member States and other ACs.
The number of tourists visited Kyiv in 2017 grew by some 21%, the press service of Kyiv City Council has reported, referring to head of the permanent commission for budget, social and economic development Andriy Strannikov.
The press service said that the number of foreign tourists rose by 25%, to 1.6 million people, and the number of domestic tourists – by 18%, to 850,000, which allowed attracting additional funds to the city budget. “The tourist tax amounted to UAH 25 million in 2017. This is a very good indicator, taking into account the fact that in 2016 this figure was UAH 18.8 million. Profits grew by almost a quarter,” Strannikov said.
According to the press service, a significant factor in attracting tourists last year was Eurovision song contest.
Kyiv City Council recalled that in 2018 in Kyiv will be the final matches of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women’s Champions League 2017/2018. The expected number of tourists is 120,000.
In 2018, Kyiv plans to establish another tourist information center on the European Square, as well as create photo zones with 3D designs of tourism logos at the railway station and near the city hall.
Ukrzaliznytsia plans to finish construction of the new Beskydsky tunnel on May 25, 2018 and starts new large-scale infrastructure projects for over UAH 10 billion, Ukrzaliznytsia acting Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov has said.
“We plan to finish the project, which was to be completed this autumn, earlier. The Beskydsky tunnel is to be opened on May 25, 2018,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Kravtsov said that among new projects is a large-scale project on electrification of the Dolynska-Mykolaiv-Kolosivka section, which concerns the access to the Mykolaiv maritime merchandise port and is a strategic one for the agricultural sector of Ukraine.
He also recalled the project on electrification of the Potoky-Zolotnyshyne section, which is important for improving transactions in the metal and ore complex of the country.
“The electrification of the Kovel-Izov-the state borer is the access of Ukrainian cargo to the European markets. Today this is the narrowest place on our transport map,” Kravtsov said.
Among other things, he pointed out the importance of railway communication with Mariupol: this year the company will continue improving the capacity of the Kamysh-Zoria-Volnovaha-Mariupol section.
“We did a lot in the past year: we expanded [throughput] from 14-15 pairs of freight trains per day to 22. This is a significant increase in one year, and we plan to raise it to 28 before the end of this year,” he said.
Head of national energy company Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk hopes that the state-owned enterprise will be reorganized into a private joint-stock company in autumn 2018.
“There is a certain procedure, which should be passed step by step. If everything works perfectly, this process could be finished in August or early September 2018. This concerns the registration of our shares,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on November 22, 2017 approved the reorganization of state enterprise Ukrenergo into a private joint-stock company, 100% of which is state owned. All the property being on the balance sheet of the state enterprise, which ensures the integrity of the united energy system of Ukraine, dispatching management, trunk and interstate power grids, is assigned to the private JSC and not subject to alienation.
According to Kovalchuk, as part of the transformation, the company must conduct a stocktaking of assets, carry out the assessment of the value of the entire property complex of the enterprise and issue shares with their transfer to state ownership. At the same time, he recalled that the transformation to the private JSC as opposed to a public joint-stock company means the impossibility of buying and selling shares of the company on the stock exchange.
Ukrenergo operates trunk and interstate power grids, as well as conducts the centralized dispatching of the united energy system of the country. The company is a state enterprise. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, but it will be transformed into a private joint-stock company.
Exports of IT services from Ukraine in 2017 increased by 7.58% compared to 2016, to $2.485 billion ($2.31 billion in 2016), the IT Committee of the European Business Association (EBA) has told Interfax-Ukraine, with reference to a study of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
“According to NBU preliminary data, the total volume of computer services exports for 2017 amounted to $2.485 billion, including operations for the sum less than $20,000 amounted to $842 million,” the report said.
According to the previously unveiled infographics of the IT Ukraine profile association on its website, exports of IT services in Ukraine in 2017 grew by 20% compared to 2016, to $3.6 billion.
The EBA is a non-governmental organization uniting more than 900 European, international and domestic companies operating in Ukraine. It was established in 1999 on the initiative of the European Commission, which is interested in supporting European business in Ukraine and establishing bilateral relations between Ukraine and the EU.
The IT Committee of the EBA is an industrial association of companies engaged in production of software and provision of software services.
