KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Odesa Port-Side Plant is offering its services to process gas into commodity ammonia and urea [fertilizers] on a tolling basis.
The announcement was posted on the company’s website on December 27. However, it says that bids can be submitted only before December 20, 2016.
According to the announcement, the plant is ready to operate using two schemes: process 60,376 cubic meters of natural gas into 7,967 tonnes of ammonia and 74,400 tonnes of urea during one calendar month (31 days) or process 117,366 cubic meters of gas into 57,480 tonnes of ammonia and 80,969 tonnes of urea during one month.
KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The distribution of budget subsidies to develop farmers will be automatic proportionally to the cost of agricultural products they sold.
According to the law on the national budget for 2017 posted on the Verkhovna Rada website, subsidies will be distributed using the data from the register of recipients of budget subsidies and information of the State Fiscal Service, taking into account the following criterion: proportionally to the cost of agricultural products farmers sold
Some UAH 9.44 billion was provided for management to the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry for 2017, including UAH 5.8 billion for staff maintenance. Some UAH 122.25 million was provided for general management in agriculture, UAH 120 million for research and staff training, UAH 18.99 for specialists training in the sector, UAH 108 million for regulation of operations of institutions in the agricultural sphere and the Agrarian Fund, UAH 60 for financial support of measures taken in agriculture and UAH 51.4 million for expenses of the Agrarian Fund related to storage, transportation, processing and exports of goods regulated by the state.
A total of UAH 300 million is envisaged for the program to compensate credit rates to farmers, UAH 170 million to support cattle breeding and UAH 75 million for hop growing, new gardens, vineyards and berry fields.
Some UAH 1.899 billion is foreseen for operations of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Rights Protection, UAH 378.1 million for operations of the State Fish Agency, UAH 247.93 million for the State Forest Agency, UAH 1.1 billion for the State Service of Geodesy, Cartography and Cadaster and UAH 714.14 million for the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine.
KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Yanair airline (Zhytomyr) seeks to expand regular flights in summer 2017 thanks to Tel-Aviv, Yanair Director General Volodymyr Sobolev has said.
“We have been assigned for Lviv-Tel-Aviv and now we are trying to have assignment for Odesa-Tel-Aviv. There are all preconditions for this. We plan to launch Chernivtsi-Tel-Aviv and Kryvy Rih-Tel-Aviv flights which the airline was assigned for. On should not forget about a sort of monopoly for the flights to Tel-Aviv, where the monopolist can set any prices and it is harder to work here,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He also said that recently some airlines stick to low-cost airline’s rules on many routes, while Yanair is a conventional airline.
“Thanks to this, for example, on the Tbilisi route, we managed to draw around 80-85% of point-to-point passenger flow. At the cost of what? At the cost of the arrival airport – Zhuliany. This is convenient, thanks to the fact that we are flying in the time convenient for passengers and that we have free food and drinks on board. We want to leave the same things on the flights to Tel-Aviv,” he said.
He said that Georgia is a commercially good destination.
“Next year we were assigned for flights from Lviv to Tbilisi and Batumi. There is a flow of passengers from Georgia and Azerbaijan for this destination who traditionally come for treatment to Truskavets. In summer Georgia is viable, especially thanks to Batumi. Many passengers go there for holidays. This is a good alternative to Bulgaria and Turkey. By the way, Turkey is several kilometers far from Georgia and one can visit it without any problems [and without visas],” Sobolev said.
Asked what passengers would be on the flights to Tel-Aviv, tourists or businessmen, he said that the ratio will be 50 to 50 and maybe there will be fewer tourists.
“These are mainly people who have relatives. These are people who came from Ukraine and who lives there. For some time it was ‘re-export’ when people started coming here and buy houses. It is expensive to live in Tel-Aviv and with Israeli pensions one can live in Ukraine. In addition, we rely on Chernivtsi in the issue where they have a group of people interested in the flights to Tel-Aviv. We want to take a small plane [Boeing 737-500] and it might fly from Chernivtsi, as the airport does not suit to larger planes,” he said.
Yanair was registered in Zhytomyr on June 15, 2012. In July 2013 it received a certificate for operations. The airline is based at Kyiv Zhuliany International Airport.
At present, the company’s fleet consists of three Saab 340 planes, three Airbus A320 planes, one Airbus 321, two Boeing 737-300 and two Boeing 737-400s.
KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Intergal-Bud construction company (Kyiv) plans in 2017 to increase the volume of construction by 33% and thus reach the figure of 400,000 square meters per year.
“At present the company is building more than 300,000 square meters of real estate, as well as plans to further increase the volume of construction and in 2017 reach the figure of about 400,000 square meters a year,” a press release reads.
According to Intergal-Bud, since 2013 the annual volume of real estate the company puts into operation is at least 10% of the total volume in the Kyiv market.
Thus, according to the company’s website, in the third quarter of 2016 it started the construction of the 16-storey Otradny apartment complex at 23 Kablukova Street in Solomiansky district of Kyiv, and in the fourth quarter the 25-storey Teremky residential complex with 1,900 apartments at 15 Zabolotnoho Street.
In addition, the company intends in 2017 to continue building the following residential complexes: Nyvky Park, Parkovi Ozera, Yaskravy, Demiyivka, Tradytsiya, Malakhit, and Ozerny Hai Hatne.
Intergal-Bud was established in 2006.
The Ukrainian business community has obtained a permanent platform for communication with Spanish partners, as the Spain-Ukraine Business Council has been established with its first meeting held in Kyiv. This initiative was put forth by the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Embassy of Spain in Ukraine, the Office for Economic and Commercial Affairs.
The Council will include enterprises from both countries that are interested in developing business relationships and promoting their commercial interests within the joint networking. Among them are sunflower oil producer Ukroliya, ketchup and mayonnaise producer Chumak, Ukraine International Airlines, the Ukrmashbud Association of Machine Engineers of Ukraine, and others. The Spanish side will be represented by Fino Verde (vegetable production), Corte fiel (clothing), Credoline, and others. The initiators are convinced that their initiative will expand the possibilities of cooperation between Spain and Ukraine, will boost bilateral investment and trade whose level at the moment is far from the two economies’ potential.
Work in this direction started some time ago. In particular, the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs has held a series of business meetings, including visits to Spain where it has a representative office.
The First Consul of the Spanish Embassy to Ukraine, Jorge Soler, said that the establishment of the Business Council was on time, as it will give real impetus to the development of economic and trade relations. He also assured that the diplomatic mission would fully support the Council.
The Business Council aims to maintain a constant dialogue with the economic, social and political agents of both countries that could contribute to completing the tasks the economies of Spain and Ukraine are facing. It will represent and safeguard general interests of both countries. Its main tool will be, among other things, the establishment of direct contacts between the members of the Council and representatives of the companies to eliminate barriers to trade or investment. To achieve this, the Council will closely work with government agencies, other associations, public and private organizations that are interested in the development of economic relations.
The Ukrainian side has already presented a number of own initiatives to Spanish colleagues that might be interesting to them. In particular, First Vice President of the ULIE Vasyl Khmelnytsky briefed them on the Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, the adoption of regulations on IT development in Ukraine and on their prospects for foreign firms and corporations.
The partners agreed to put cooperation on the maximum practical track. This suggests conducting business meetings, forums, as well as exchanging contacts and ideas.
“We are going to create an atmosphere for sharing experience, case studies in doing business, and exchanging expert opinions,” participants in the meeting summed up.
Industrialists, entrepreneurs and employers of Ukraine have summed up their performance in 2016 and outlined plans of the business community for next year. In particular, they noted the first positive results of joint efforts made by the business circles: the National Committee for Industrial Development has been established; the “Ukraine is a Country of Entrepreneurs” program is being implemented. Further, work with parliamentarians has been organized. Ideas from the public to develop the country is presented by the “Transformation of Ukraine” parliamentary group, the Office of the Business Representative in parliament.
The document provides for coordination of partners’ efforts to fight corruption, lobby and adopt relevant legislation, remove similar obstacles to doing business, start up own business, raise investment funds, and others.
“Today, the joint efforts with our friends and partners bring positive results. The authorities have finally realized that deindustrialization is an unacceptable process in such an industry-oriented state. There are positive changes in the field of aerospace and wagon building,” ULIE President Anatoliy Kinakh said. In his words, there is much work ahead to switch from words to deeds. After all, GDP does not demonstrate noticeable growth so far; the level of the population’s financial solvency is low while necessary tax, customs, monetary reforms to stimulate business activity have not been enacted yet.
The business community focused its attention on the most practical initiatives whose implementation began in 2016 and will continue in future. The “Ukraine is a Country of Entrepreneurs” project will further be developed, according to the ULIE president. A number of forums held in Kyiv and regional centers gathered over 7,000 young businesspeople, experts, representatives of local administrations. The local authorities expressed readiness to partly offset rates of loans issued for the development of business and startups, using mechanisms of public-private partnership. In particular, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko announced the allocation of UAH 10 million for these purposes. After the forum, revised regional programs for the support of entrepreneurship and businesses were presented in the cities of Lutsk, Uzhgorod, Rivne, and other municipalities. These are first positive steps towards the ambitious goal of the project to create one million jobs in Ukraine.
The ULIE Board approved proposals regarding international business relations in the wake of a recent Ukrainian-Lithuanian forum with the participation of the Presidents of the two countries along with recommendations of the newly created Spain-Ukraine Business Council, and a number of forums and meetings with partners from Austria, Canada, Israel, Iran, the United States, and others.
The ULIE also awarded diplomas and gifts to partners from media organizations and experts.
“The year 2017 promises to be very active. And we’ll proceed not only with the implementation of the initiatives we’ve already started, but will press for the achievement of visible and tangible results for the Ukrainian economy and our citizens,” the head of the Ukrainian business community said.
