KYIV. May 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Astelit LLC (the LIFE brand) has launched the UMTS (3G) standard network for commercial exploitation in Lviv, the company said in a press release issued on Tuesday.
“Lviv residents and guests of the cultural capital of Ukraine have received the chance of becoming the first users of 3G+ services from the LIFE brand, which can maintain Internet speed of up to 63.3 megabits per second. It means that subscribers can watch video steaming, quickly transfer large files, load video and make video calls,” reads the report.
The subscribers can get the 3G+Smartphone tariff plan with a fee from UAH 89 per 30 days.
Lviv is the first city where the company launched its network for commercial exploitation. The company is the first among the three winners of the tender to launch the network (along with MTS Ukraine and Kyivstar).
As reported, on February 23, 2015, Astelit was named the winner of the first lot to obtain licenses for 3G communications. The license cost the operator UAH 3.355 billion.
KYIV. May 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Czech Airlines on May 19 launched a regular flight between Kyiv and Kosice (Slovakia), Sales and Marketing Director at Czech Airlines Jan Toth said during the presentation of the flight in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“We see the business potential between Ukraine and eastern Slovakia, which impelled us to launch the flight,” he said.
Toth said that the airline expects that the flight will reach 85% of its capacity.
Airbus A319 aircraft will operate on the route.
Departures from Kyiv are on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 04:10 and passengers will fly back at 23:55.
Passengers will be able to fly onwards to Prague using the flight.
“Passengers who will leave for Prague and back to Kyiv are not to leave the plane during the landing in Kosice. After a short 30-minute landing the plane will fly from Kosice to Prague or back to Kyiv,” reads the press release given to those attending the presentation.
According to the report, ОК916 and ОК917 flights between Prague and Kyiv will be replaced by ОК976/ОК977 Prague-Kosice-Kyiv/Kyiv-Kosice-Prague flights.
The price of a one-way ticket from Kyiv to Kosice is from UAH 1,875 (taking into account all fees and duties) and UAH 3,506 for a return ticket. The cost of a one-way ticket to Prague starts from UAH 2,741 to UAH 5,361 for a return ticket.
When asked if the airline has plans to launch any other flights from Kyiv, Toth said that the airline does not have concrete plans for this year.
KYIV. May 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk and the special envoy of the Japanese prime minister on issues regarding assistance for Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan Jasumasa Nagamine, have discussed future assistance by the Japanese government for Ukraine.
“The Japanese representative reported about the intension of the Japanese government to continue supporting reforms and technical aid projects in Ukraine,” the government’s press service has reported.
Yatseniuk praised the principled position of Japan in defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the respective political efforts of the Japanese government, including as a part of the G7.
Nagamine is currently in Kyiv.
KYIV. May 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – On Monday in Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, discussed the implementation of a visa-free regime for Ukraine and preparation for the upcoming Riga summit.
“Particular attention was paid to the issue of further movement towards the introduction of a visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens. Avramopoulos admitted that considerable progress had been achieved by Ukraine in carrying out the criteria of the second phase of the action plan on visa liberalization, which was noted in the report of European Commission (EC) on the state of its implementation dated May 8. He confirmed that the European Commission was ready to provide as much support as possible for our country to finish the issues left [to be settled] to achieve the desired goal – cancelation of visas for Ukrainian citizens,” the Foreign Ministry’s press service reported.
Avramopoulos said that the EC was ready to prepare its next report on Ukraine’s implementation of the visa liberalization action plan.
Klimkin spoke about the specific steps Ukraine had already taken and was planning to take in order to follow the recommendations specified in the EC’s report.
The parties also discussed the preparation for the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga on May 21-22. Ukraine noted that the summit should end with a clear signal on the deadline of the introduction of visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens.
The parties supported the creation of a joint border guard and customs control between Ukraine and EU member states. They also discussed cooperation on the EU Visa information System in which is due to begin operating June 23.
Klimkin and Avramopoulos positively assessed the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Agreement regarding Visa Processing Liberalization.
Klimkin also invited Avramopoulos to visit Ukraine soon.
A delegation of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) and the Association of Small Cities of Ukraine traveled to Lithuania at the end of April to demonstrate to Ukrainian town mayors how autonomous utility, water purification, wastewater treatment, and electricity supply systems could work efficiently in towns, as well as to establish direct business and cultural contacts. The trip was organized with the assistance of the Lithuanian company Traidenis, whose core business is the production of wastewater treatment equipment, the ULIE, and its member – Ukrainian company Elektromekhanika.
“We’ve noticed an interesting thing – Ukrainian towns rather than cities are more open to high technologies. For this reason we’ve decided to organize a trip to Lithuania to exchange experience, exactly for the representatives of the Association of Small Cities of Ukraine. Thus, eight town mayors joined us to visit the production facilities of Precizika Company, a producer of photovoltaic systems. Traidenis Company took our delegation to Druskininkai, a resort town where its wastewater treatment plants operate,” First Deputy President of the ULIE Serhiy Prokhorov said.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Lithuania Valeriy Zhovtenko welcomed the Ukrainian delegation at the airport and held a meeting with entrepreneurs. Among other issues the participants in the meeting discussed local government issues and the opportunity to share relevant experience between Ukraine and Lithuania. The ambassador briefed the entrepreneurs on the steps required to implement local government reform in Lithuania and told them about the country’s historic experience of struggling for its own independence. Zhovtenko noted the ULIE’s important role in the introduction of European values in Ukraine and in promoting the country’s business interests abroad, specifically in Europe.
The delegations of the ULIE and the Association of Small Cities of Ukraine also visited the production facilities of the Lithuanian company Precizika, a manufacturer of solar panels. The electricity supply to places such as parks, water reservoirs, places of public amusement, small outlets, kiosks, filling stations, sparsely populated districts, etc. is a topical problem in towns. The delegates familiarized themselves with the effective use of photovoltaic modules and the technologies that are used to build small power plants and equip some buildings and transport vehicles.
“Lithuanian engineers have developed unique systems which can illuminate any place without wires, posts and relevant certificates. These are designs of the future which make it possible to not only turn roofs but also walls and slab panels into integrated photovoltaic power systems. Precizika also has technologies that turn absolutely transparent windows into power sources by mounting photocells in the glass units. They also regulate light intensity in the premises,” the ULIE first deputy president said.
Precizika products raised great interest among the Ukrainian mayors as the development of the localities they are responsible for requires such systems.
The Ukrainian delegates also gained new experience during their visit to Alytus Industrial Park, for instance, in tax incentives – the companies that rent new land plots here and have invested at least EUR 1 million per hectare in construction and buildings are exempt from taxes on land rent and real estate for three tax periods, and their taxes are halved during the next five tax periods. Interestingly, Alytus is open for all investment projects related to the production of wastewater treatment systems, storage and logistics development.
There is room for Ukrainian enterprises here, Prokhorov said during the visit to the industrial park.
Industrial parks are a part of regional policy in Lithuania. The promotion of regional investment helps to resolve excessive centralization. The industrial parks feature all the required engineering works: gas and water supply, wastewater treatment, electricity supply systems, two transformer substations, and telephone systems.
The delegates also met with Alytus Mayor Vytautas Grigaravicius to discuss business issues as well as possible strengthening of cultural and twin town relations between Ukrainian and Lithuanian towns. For example, Alytus will mark Town Day on June 19, and the mayor of Trostianets, a Ukrainian town, has promised to engage Ukrainian folk music bands and craftsmen in the celebration.
“We think that the implementation of the so-called people’s diplomacy, when people who realize new progressive ideas and technologies cooperate and share experience, is an important aspect of cooperation between the two countries,” Prokhorov said.
The Ukrainian delegates also traveled to the resort town of Druskininkai, which Lithuanians describe as a champion in attracting investment. Some time ago it was a desolate town with a high unemployment rate, however today it is one of the most well-known resorts in Europe. The mayor of the Ukrainian town Myrhorod took great interest in the town’s experience of recreation area development. Particular attention was paid to the wastewater treatment systems used in the town as it is an extremely important issue for resorts.
“They have showcased us the work of Traidenis wastewater treatment plants which effectively eliminate problems related to sewage treatment. I think we will start using such systems in Ukraine soon as they operate in line with European standards, take up minimum space and are hidden so that they don’t spoil the landscape. It is an irreplaceable invention and our resorts and recreation areas lack this. That is why the mayors of Ukrainian towns found this technology interesting. The ULIE promotes advanced ideas in Ukraine in order to realize its mission – progressive development and European integration of the country,” Prokhorov said.
We want to stress that Ukraine’s economic and political integration in the European Union (EU) and the establishment of a free trade area (FTA) as of January 1, 2016, is inevitable and we support it, as does the entirety of the civil and business community of Ukraine, President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) Anatoliy Kinakh said during the European Business Summit in Brussels on May 7, 2015.
“The EU has become the main strategic partner of our country in 2014. Numbers speak louder than words – our exports to EU countries account for 36% now, and the share of EU investment in Ukraine is 70%! Closer cooperation with Europe is a chance to speed up the introduction of high standards in Ukraine. In addition, cooperation with the EU has to gain new, far from formalized quality so as to rely on the strength, opinion and opportunities of Ukrainian civil society in the future,” the ULIE president said.
During the summit, Kinakh participated in a discussion panel entitled “Trade – Europe in the Global Economy” in order to speak about the key positions of the Ukrainian business community regarding Ukraine-EU cooperation.
“Our goal is to deepen cooperation with the BUSINESSEUROPE organization, the European Parliament, and the European Commission and accelerate the implementation of Ukrainian-EU economic cooperation bearing huge potential. We appreciate Europe’s assistance, but Ukraine has to take the first decisive step on its own – introduce global reforms, improve the work of all branches of the government, and strengthen the role of civil society. This is our own homework task which we have to fulfill,” Kinakh said.
Ukraine is currently suffering from treacherous aggression by its closest neighbor – Russia – which was a good economic partner in the past. Our country’s resources are gradually being exhausted and our main weapons are implemented reforms, economic growth, consolidation of civil society and the strong support of our international partners, namely the EU.
In his speech, the Ukrainian public figure thanked Ukraine’s partners and stressed that the speedy ratification of the Association Agreement is very important to Ukraine.
“January 1, 2016. We are getting closer to this date day by day and this stimulates Ukrainian businesses to develop, advance, search for ways to become modernized, and look for new markets, partners and proposals. We must not take a step back. Ukraine has been paying a too high price after it once rescheduled this date,” the ULIE president said.
Kinakh stressed that intense cooperation between the Ukrainian government, civil society and Ukraine’s European partners on serious programs aimed at adapting the country’s economy to EU norms and standards, boosting its competitiveness and implementing government reforms is very important. The simultaneous introduction of the free trade area and the ratification of the agreement between Ukraine and EU member states could be the best stimulus for the country, Kinakh said.
The ULIE is working to deepen cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee. Both parties have agreed to hold joint events in the EU and Ukraine in order to strengthen the dialogue between industrialists, employers, and trade unions, as well as Ukrainian and European government agencies.
“In order not to waste time, we are enhancing the competitiveness of Ukraine’s economy so as to safeguard it against turning into a mere supplier of raw materials and exporter of low-cost labor and ‘brains’ to developed countries. Our country can and will produce high-tech and high value added products that are in demand all over the world. Today I can see that our European partners seriously support us,” Kinakh said.
