KHARKIV. Dec 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Malyshev Plant (Kharkiv) is ready to ship a new batch of Ukrainian Oplot tanks to Thailand in December 2015 if the Defense Ministry of Ukraine agrees the shipment, Chief Engineer Oleksandr Sheiko has said.
“The delivery guideline is December, if the Defense Ministry agrees it,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Sheiko did not specify the number of tanks that could be shipped. He said that if the ministry approves the shipment, the implementation of the Thai contract could be finished in 2016.
The Oplot tank has been developed by the Kharkiv-based Morozov Design and Engineering Bureau. The first two Oplot tanks entered service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces in May 2009. An over $200 million contract for the delivery of 49 Oplot tanks to Thailand was signed in 2011. The Malyshev company started implementing the contract in April 2012. Investment in the tanks’ serial production amounts to $30 million, according to the company management.
Experts estimate the Oplot tank has an 80% processing complexity coefficient, one of the world’s highest among new combat vehicles. The tank has advanced systems of protecting communication and control gear, including an active system for countering smart weapons, as well as night vision instruments and a remote- controlled machine-gun.
KYIV. Dec 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Around 20 investors have shown their interest in the possible purchase of Odesa Port-Side Plant at the privatization tender, including four U.S. companies, Norway’s Yara and some European companies, Head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) Ihor Bilous said on Channel 5 TV late on Wednesday.
He said that companies from developing countries, in particular, Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia, China and Arab countries are also among potential buyers.
Traders and financial investors form a separate group.
He said that the plant is finishing designing the management presentation and it is almost ready to the visits of the potential buyers.
Bilous said that the largest risk for the tender scheduled for spring 2016 is the political risk, as the sale of Odesa Port-Side Plant was twice stopped manually.
A delay with the adoption of amendments to laws on privatization by the parliament that revokes the obligatory sale of 5% of shares on stock exchanges is among other risks. However, the preliminary compromise on the issue has been reached in the parliament.
Bilous also remained about litigation with Nortima affiliated with businessman Ihor Kolomoisky. Nortima won a tender to sell Odesa Port-Side Plant in 2009, although the tender results were overturned. He said that the next hearing is scheduled for December 9, and until now the State Property Fund won the dispute in all courts.
He said that the slammed tolling scheme will not be used at the plant.
“Only open purchases of gas at the lowest price will be used,” he said.
The plant’s supervisory board will approved a special procedure for buying gas and selling finished products.
ODESA. Dec 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Odesa customs office plans to guarantee customs clearance of imported raw materials for large Ukrainian producers at the prices given in invoices, Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili said at a meeting with head of Odesa customs office Yulia Marushevska.
“I met large producers who import raw materials for own production several times. Raw materials are not always imported from those 30 countries for the customs clearance of products from which invoice prices are used thanks to changes at the Odesa customs office. We refused using this principle for imports from other countries, as many companies artificially cut the prices and it is hard to monitor. If this is a large national producer, it is possible to efficiently control this. These companies should be supported in the current difficult economic situation. We’re obliged to relax imports of raw materials for them,” he said.
Saakashvili said that the preferential treatment is credit of trust. If any company sets the price of raw materials too low to pay smaller taxes and duties, the company would not be treated in this way anymore.
KYIV. Dec 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTA) between Ukraine and the European Union (EU) which take effect from January 1, 2016 creates unique opportunities for business, when efficiency, competitiveness and quality are the decisive factors of market share, not corruption, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.
“When it is not corruption, which is linked with our eastern neighbor “pays more have the larger market share” that will be the decisive factors of market share, but simple business factors – efficiency, competitiveness and quality – will be decisive,” Poroshenko said at the Ukrainian-Lithuanian Economic Forum during his working visit to Lithuania on Wednesday.
Speaking to the representatives of businesses of the two countries the Ukrainian president reminded the events happened two years ago when Ukrainian society and Ukrainian business were waiting for the signing of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.
“When it was learnt that the agreement will not be signed, next day millions of people entered the streets. They did not demand the increase of salaries or pensions, reduction of taxes or receiving any social benefits. People demanded Europe,” Poroshenko said.
The press service of the head of state reported that the forum, in particular, will present the program of privatization of Ukrainian state enterprises and investment opportunities of Ukraine. The parties will also discuss potential implementation of the Association Agreement for economic cooperation between the two countries. Special attention will be paid to the cooperation in transport and energy sectors.
Ukraine-Lithuania business forum was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Association of Lithuanian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (ALCCIC), Vilnius Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine, Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE), Chamber of Commerce of Ukraine and Kyiv Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
KYIV. Dec 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Digital Future investment company has invested $250,000 in the Prodvigator internet service providing data for analyzing rivals in search systems, the company’s press service reported on Tuesday.
“The investor will receive 15% of the project,” the company said.
Digital Future said that at present, the service provides data for eight regions of Google presence – Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, UK, the U.S., Canada and South Africa and analytics from Yandex for Moscow and St. Petersburg. Over 26,000 specialists use the service now.
“Digital Future’s investment will be used to expand the functions of Prodvigator, occupy positions on the western market and expand and cover new regions,” the company said.
Digital Future provides smart-money to startups from Eastern and Central Europe oriented to the global market. It was founded in 2014 by businessman Oleksiy Vitchenko.
KYIV. Dec 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Johannes Hahn have discussed the readiness to the introduction of a free trade area between Ukraine and the European Union.
“The meeting of Klimkin and Hahn has confirmed their readiness to work together to maximize the efficiency of a free trade area for Ukrainian and European businesses,” the Foreign Ministry’s press service wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Klimkin had a meeting with EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, during which he stressed that sanctions against Russia should be extended until the full implementation of the Minsk agreements.
