President of Ukraine accepted credentials from ambassadors of a number of foreign states: the Republic of Korea – Chang-Kwon Chi, the South African Republic – Andre Johannes Groenewald, the Republic of Slovenia – Tomaz Menzin, the Federal Republic of Germany – Anka Feldhusen, the Republic of Finland – Päivi Maarit Laine. During the conversation with Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ukraine Chang-Kwon Chi, the parties discussed issues of strengthening political dialogue at the highest level between Ukraine and South Korea as well as prospects of trade, economic and investment cooperation, the presidential press service said on Wednesday.
“The issue of introducing a visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens was discussed, which would facilitate the development of interpersonal contacts,” it says.
The president invited President of the Republic of Korea Mun Zhe Ying to visit Ukraine.
During the conversation with new Ambassador of the South African Republic to Ukraine Andre Johannes Groenewald, the president of Ukraine emphasized the importance of strengthening political dialogue.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine considers the South African Republic as a prospective partner in Africa and is focused on more intensive cooperation in all spheres.
“Special attention was paid to the discussion of trade and economic cooperation, in particular prospects of Ukrainian-South African business forum which would be held this year,” the message reads.
President of Ukraine spoke out about the establishment of closer and constructive bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and the Republic of South Africa within the framework of its non-permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council.
The president of Ukraine also invited President of the Republic of South Africa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa to visit Ukraine in the framework of the official visit.
The president thanked Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Ukraine Päivi Maarit Laine for consistent support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as the substantial humanitarian and expert assistance provided by Helsinki to Ukraine at the bilateral level. Particular attention was paid to the practical assistance provided by Finland in implementing systemic reforms, in particular in the field of school education and energy efficiency.
During the conversation with Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Ukraine Tomaz Menzin the president of Ukraine thanked Slove nia for the consistent political support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Zelensky appreciated the assistance of Slovenia in promoting the rehabilitation of 400 children from Ukraine whose parents had died as a result of Russian aggression.
During the conversation with Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Anka Feldhusen the head of state thanked the German side for the continued support of Ukraine in countering Russian aggression, as well as substantial financial and technical assistance to facilitate the process of structural reforms in Ukraine.
“During the meeting, the main focus was on discussing the security situation in Donbas and a set of further steps to revitalize the peace process. The importance of continuing international pressure on the Russian Federation to ensure its implementation of the decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was emphasized,” the presidential website says.
President of Ukraine also expressed hopes for the preservation of the traditionally active political dialogue at the highest level in the future.
In addition, the parties discussed the issue of involving German business representatives to work in Ukraine and the creation of joint enterprises.
AMBASSADORS, CREDENTIALS, FINLAND, GERMANY, KOREA, PRESIDENT, SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC
The Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (BAU), together with the associations uniting the leading producers of electricity from renewable energy sources, have addressed President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky regarding the situation with the payment for purchased electricity from alternative sources at a feed-in tariff. According to the press service of the BAU, the decisions of the Kyiv District Administrative Court to suspend the decisions of the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER), which set tariffs for electricity transmission for Ukrenergo, will lead to non-payments to producers of electricity from renewable sources.
The letter also emphasizes that the decision of the Kyiv District Administrative Court to satisfy the claim of Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant to secure the claim against the NCER will lead to a halt in building new renewable energy facilities, a failure to comply with the obligations to financial institutions. In addition, it will damage the investment attractiveness of Ukraine and freeze the development of the renewable energy industry.
“We are asking to support the strategic development of the renewable energy industry in Ukraine and prevent the deterioration of the investment climate due to the violation of the guarantees provided by the state,” the letter reads.
British-based Ferrexpo plc in January-March 2019 invested UAH 1.3 billion (over $47.5 million) in the development of Poltava, Yeristovo and Belanovo mining and processing plants (GOK) it controls, which is 73.6% more than the investments for the same period in 2018 in the hryvnia (over UAH 748.9 million) and 71% in U.S. dollars (over $27.8 million).
According to the investment program approved by the board of directors, Ferrexpo Group for January-March 2019 invested more than UAH 855 million, or more than $31.4 million, in Poltava GOK (Ferrexpo Poltava Mining), over UAH 438.3 million, or more than $16.1 million in the development of Yeristovo and Belanovo GOKs (Ferrexpo Yeristovo Mining, Ferrexpo Belanovo Mining).
The main capital investments of PGOK were the costs of supporting existing production in the amount of over UAH 209 million, or more than $5 million and large strategic projects worth over UAH 272 million, or more than $16.3 million, components worth over UAH 373 million, or more than $10 million.
The funds of YeGOK and BGOK were invested in processing, the development of railway tracks and objects, in projects for capital construction of infrastructure, quarrying, geological and other work.
UDP Renewables, a part of UFuture Investment Group, has launched its new solar power plant Scythia-Solar-2 in Melitopol (Zaporizhia region).
“UFuture and UDP Renewables continue to consistently realize the economic potential of Ukraine’s southern region following our long-term energy strategy. Now, the share of renewable energy sources in our country’s energy mix is only about 3%, but together we work towards changing this ratio. Our target is more than 160 MW of total production capacity by the end of 2019,” Founder of UFuture, Vasyl Khmelnytsky, said.
Scythia-Solar-2, with a peak capacity of 33.1 MW, occupies land area of 50 ha and consists of more than 91,000 solar modules produced by JA Solar. New PV PP will generate almost 42,000 MWh per year enabling to power 13,300 households.
“Scythia-Solar-2 is a high-tech facility. It is the second phase of our largest project Scythia-Solar, which we have started implementing in 2018. We have traditionally cooperated with Ukrainian equipment manufacturers and providers of respective services worth of UAH 288.5 million. During different stages of PV PP’s construction and operation, we created 315 jobs,” Managing Partner of UDP Renewables, Sergiy Yevtushenko, emphasized.
The project attracted €21.58 million of investments. The total capacity of two phases of Scythia-Solar is 46 MW, and the total investment reached €31.68 million. The launch of Scythia-Solar-2, instead of coal-fired power plants, will prevent 51 thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Its general contractor is a Ukrainian group of companies, KNESS, and the financial partner is Oschadbank.
UDP Renewables is an investment and development company in the Ukrainian renewable energy sector. With diversification in type of renewable power generation and geography, by 2022 UDP Renewables strives to become one of the largest producers of clean energy in Ukraine, with total capacity of more than 300 MW. UDP Renewables is a part of UFuture Investment Group, a Ukrainian private equity firm and group of companies based in Kyiv. It unites businesses and social projects of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky. Throughout its 20-year history, the group has accumulated a diversified portfolio of assets that spans both traditional sectors and industries of the future, and ranges from real estate, infrastructure and manufacturing to pharmaceuticals, renewable energy and technology.
INVEST, MELITOPOL, SOLAR POWER PLANT, UDP, VASYL KHMELNYTSKY
Ukraine since the beginning of the new 2019/2020 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of July 24, 2019 had exported 2.435 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, farmers exported 1.41 million tonnes of corn, 526,000 tonnes of wheat, and 499,000 tonnes of barley.
Some 21,300 tonnes of flour had been also exported on that date.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, Ukraine exported a record 50.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2018/2019 marketing year, which is 23% more than in the previous MY.
PrivatBank (Kyiv) will start selling its property with discounts, as well as at Dutch auctions through the electronic trading platforms LOT.PB and OpenMarket (SETAM state enterprise), the press service of SETAM has reported.
“In the near future, such auctions will be held on objects agreed by the board of the bank,” the report says.
According to the report, PrivatBank will put up for sale own real estate objects in almost all regions of Ukraine.
“The decline in real estate prices is planned for a large number of non-core assets to accelerate the sale of the facilities that are not used in the bank’s operating activities,” the report says.
PrivatBank specified that, in addition to traditional sales, it is planned to conduct bidding according to the Dutch auction model, which implies the reduction of the lot price during the bidding process.
