KYIV. April 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Around 400 representatives of different foreign delegations will attend the International Support for Ukraine Conference scheduled to be held in Kyiv on April 28, Head of the conference organization committee and Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius has said.
“The goal of the conference is to show to our western partners that reforms are going on in our country, and there is a mood for reforms and we have a clear plan towards reforming the country,” he said.
He said that the conference is intended to show the unity of Ukrainian authorities in their plans to conduct reforms.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Groysman, and every Ukrainian minister are due to take part in the conference.
Abromavicius said that Ukraine expects that the foreign delegations to participate in the one plus three format: head of the government or state and three profile ministers.
Representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been invited to take part in the conference.
It is planned to discuss the financing of eastern regions of Ukraine which have suffered from the ongoing conflict, business climate issues, and aid for displaced persons.
Kyiv, April 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Bank of Ukraine has said that the foreign exchange market has stabilized in recent weeks and that they started working on the gradual removal of restrictions on foreign exchange transactions in line with the commitments under the new program of cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“There are grounds to speak about the achievement of equilibrium on the foreign exchange market… That’s why the National Bank has noted the existence of prerequisites for liberalization of the market and easing some restrictions,” the NBU press service quoted the central bank’s governor, Valeriya Gontareva, as saying at a weekly meeting with bankers on Tuesday.
She recalled that on April 10, 2015, the NBU canceled the requirement of the obligatory use of letters of credit to import certain vitally important goods (oil, petrol, diesel fuel, drugs for hemodialysis and treating patients) for transactions under direct contracts with producers, and military goods.
According to first deputy head of the NBU Oleksandr Pisaruk, the National Bank within two or three months will finish the process of cleansing the banking system, and will then proceed to the structural stabilization of the market. “The regulator is working on a plan for the gradual removal of restrictions on foreign exchange transactions… In particular, all restrictions on the withdrawals from customers’ bank accounts, which were introduced in 2014-2015, will be gradually removed,” he said.
Gontareva added that such steps of the regulator should help restore citizens’ confidence in banks and will be “a point of reboot” for the banking system.
KYIV. April 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada has introduced a ten-year ban on the export of timber and lumber in its raw form (round timber), while a ban on word exports (except for pine) will be introduced from November 1, 2015, and that for pine trees – from January 1, 2017.
All in all, 233 deputies voted for the adoption of the bill at second reading and as a whole.
The law provides for the introduction of a ten-year ban on the export from Ukraine of timber and lumber in its raw form, in particular, round timber with the transport humidity being above 22%, as well as lumber with thickness exceeding 70 mm with a similar transport humidity.
While presenting the bill for second reading, the chairman of the committee on industrial policy and entrepreneurship Viktor Halasiuk said that the law eliminates the monopoly of the central executive authority on issuing certificates – they will now also be issued by forestries, permanent forest users, and a single electronic register will be introduced that will allow certificates to be traced.
He said that the wording of the bill has been agreed with timber processing enterprises and forestry establishments, as well as the Embassy of Poland, which “is one of the main interested parties – they will plant their plants.”
KYIV. April 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv), Ukraine’s largest airport, in March, and for the first time since the beginning of 2015, recorded an increase in passenger traffic by 9% compared to March 2014, to 459,300 passengers.
The airport’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine that in particular, in March it served 421,000 passengers on international routes and 38,300 on domestic routes.
“However, the amount of flights from the airport was 7% less than in the same period last year – 5,171 flights, of which 4,638 international and 533 domestic,” the press service said.
The average occupancy of aircraft in March 2015 was 71%, in March 2014 the average figure was 61%, and on some routes occupancy was between 30-40%.
In general, in the first quarter of 2015 the airport’s performance fell: in January-March it served 1.348 million passengers, which is 7% less than in the same period in 2014.
It served 1.242 million passengers on international flights during this period, and 105,861 on domestic flights.
The number of flights fell by 16%, to 14,983.
KYIV. April 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ernst & Young Audit Services LLC has won the tender on the procurement of audit services conducted by the State Railway Administration of Ukraine (Ukrzaliznytsia).
This was announced at the presentation of the winner of the tender on Tuesday.
The price offered by the winner was not disclosed at the presentation, while earlier it was reported that Ernst & Young Audit Services had requested UAH 19.8 million (value added tax included) for its services.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (Audit), which requested UAH 25 million (VAT included) for its services, also took part in the tender.
The tender was conducted to receive audit reports on the consolidated financial report of Ukrzaliznytsia for 2014 and 2015, a report on the survey of an interim consolidated report for H1 2015, and to confirm financial coefficients calculated by Ukrzaliznytsia under the conditions of credit agreements signed by the customer with banks-creditors as of December 31, 2015, June 30, 3015 and December 31, 2015.
KYIV. April 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada has adopted the law on amendments to some legislative acts concerning the decentralization of authority in state architectural and construction control and the improvement of urban planning legislation.
All in all, 306 deputies voted for law No. 1546.
The law transfers the implementation of state architectural and construction control from the central executive authority to local self-governance and executive authorities, and simplifies certain licensing and conciliation procedures in construction.
The central authorities which currently implement state policy on architectural and construction control will fulfill the functions until they are transferred to local authorities.
The law also improves the procedure of filing a declaration on the implementation of preparatory and construction work, shortens the term of issuing technical conditions in the relevant field, and increases legal responsibility.
