KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will officially open the 12th Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy Forum (YES) in Kyiv on September 11.
The 12th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting entitled “At Risk: How the New Ukraine’s Fate Affects Europe and the World”, organized by YES, in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, will take place in Kyiv on September 10-12, 2015.
Poroshenko will speak about Ukraine’s position on current global issues and present his vision on how to overcome current the challenges and threats faced by the country, the YES press service reported on Monday.
According to the agenda of the forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk will open the second day of the YES Annual Meeting on September 12, and will lay out his vision for reforms, addressing both the successes and failures of the reforms his government has made.
The 12th YES Forum will concentrate on determining how Ukraine can become a force for global stability and European values in today’s volatile global system, building on the revolution of dignity, and addressing the challenges that arose from the annexation of Crimea, the conflict in Donbas, and the urgent need to reform the country’s financial, economic, legal and security sectors.
On the first day, participants will discuss how to restore security in Europe and achieve peace in Ukraine; threats to the global economy and the role of Ukraine in this context, and which strategies can provide energy security for the world and Ukraine. New global cooperation and alliances, including the relations between Europe, the West, and Russia will be discussed.
The second day of the Forum will focus on assessing Ukraine’s successes and failures in implementing reforms and on the economic, financial, legal and security sectors of the country. The participants will also discuss challenges including decentralization, constitutional changes and the upcoming local elections.
This year, the 12th YES Annual Meeting will bring together more than 350 global leaders representing politics, business, society and media from more than 20 countries to discuss the new Ukraine’s impact on Europe and the world. One hundred Ukrainian student leaders, including those who have received scholarships from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, will also have a chance to meet YES speakers and participants.
Some of the speakers who will attend the forum include: Jean Asselborn, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission (2004-2014); Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014); Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission; Leonid Kuchma, President of Ukraine (1994–2005); Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland (1995-2005) and Chairman of the Board of YES; Gen. Stanley McChrystal, (U.S. Army, Retired), Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) (2009-2010); Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) (2009-2010); Ivan Miklos, Minister of Finance of Slovakia (2002-2006, 2010-2012); Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Carlos Pascual, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, U.S. Department of State (2011-2014); Gen. David A. Petraeus, (U.S. Army, Retired), and Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2011-2012); Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO (2009-2014); Prime Minister of Denmark (2001-2009); Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Austria (2000-2007); Radoslaw Sikorski, Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland; Speaker, Sejm of the Republic of Poland (2014-2015); Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland (2007-2014); Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSR (1999-2009), and member of the Board of YES; Strobe Talbott, President, Brookings Institution, and Chair, Foreign Affairs Policy Board, U.S. Department of State; Vaira Viķe-Freiberga, President of Latvia (1999-2007); and Lamberto Zannier, Secretary General, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
For the second time, the YES Annual Meeting is taking place in the Ukrainian capital. From 2004 to 2013, the forum was held at its traditional venue, the Livadia Palace in Yalta in Crimea, which has since been occupied by Russia.
For more than a decade, YES has worked to connect Ukraine with the wider world and find the ways to secure a peaceful and cooperative Europe. The annual forum convenes global leaders, government officials, business executives, social innovators and Ukrainian student leaders to identify, address and find solutions that may help overcome the obstacles preventing Ukraine from becoming a more modern, open and prosperous country.
KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The tender committee of Lviv Railways has held a meeting where to select the winner of a tender to buy a new passenger diesel train, and the winner was Kriukov Car Building Works (KCBW, Poltava region).
The press service of Lviv Railways reported that the price of the new diesel train is UAH 109.8 million (VAT included).
Lviv Railways said that two bids were submitted to the tender – from KCBW and Kharkiv Wagon-Building Plant LLC, and the price of the latter was UAH 120 million. The two bids met the tender criteria and were allowed to participate.
The suburban diesel train with three wagons made by KCBW is intended to carry passengers on non-electrified 1,520mm gauge rail sections with a speed of up to 140 km per hour. The diesel train has 291 seats, and two seats for passengers with disabilities.
Lviv Railways operates in the south-western part of Ukraine in six regions: Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, and Volyn.
The Kriukov plant, which is the CIS’s only manufacturer of both passenger carriages and freight wagons, manufactures freight wagons (open wagons, tankers, hopper wagons, and high-sided wagons), as well as passenger carriages, bogies for freight wagons, wheel pairs, and spare parts for subway carriages, escalators, containers, and road equipment.
KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Antonov State Enterprise (Kyiv) has started manufacturing the first sample of its new multipurpose An-132 aircraft with a cargo capacity 9.2 tonnes under a contract signed with Saudi Arabia.
Antonov State Enterprise Acting President Mykhailo Hvozdev told reporters on Monday that the test aircraft of the new An-132 aircraft is being manufactured under the contract signed in April with Saudi Arabian KACST.
He said that at present, the company has finished the detailed design of the aircraft and has started manufacturing it.
“The first An-132 sample will be handed to the customer in late 2016,” he said.
Hvozdev said that the An-132 will have western engines, in particular, PW150A engines of Canada’s Pratt&Whitney, as well as aviation electronics and other equipment.
According to preliminary assessments, the internal need of the Saudi Arabian customer and its armed forces for the An-132 aircraft and its modifications is estimated at around 80 aircraft, he said.
KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) hopes to receive UAH 20-30 billion thanks to ‘big’ privatization, SPF Head Ihor Bilous said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
“Budget revenue from big privatization should be at least UAH 20-30 billion. This would be a compensation element of the tax reform,” he said.
Bilous said that along with the state-owned facilities planned for the privatization which were named earlier, Sumykhimprom and Zaporizhia Titanium and Magnesium Plant could also be put up for sale.
“Sumykhimprom and Zaporizhia Titanium and Magnesium Plant would be included in the privatization [list] if the government does not decide on uniting assets in the titanium sector,” he said.
He added that the issue of uniting the assets is being actively discussed.
Bilous said that this year, the fund will focus on its preparations for the ‘big’ privatization. The preparations include the attraction of advisors. He said that negotiations with the European Commission, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), USAID and International Finance Corporation (IFC) on the financing of these advisors have been completed.
He said that USAID is ready to provide $5-7 million as a result.
Along with the preparation of large facilities for privatization, the fund plans to sell smaller companies this year and receive around UAH 1 billion. This mainly concerns combined heat and power plants.
“There are buyers for all combined heat and power plants, despite the fact that these are last century facilities… Not one, but five or six investors,” Bilous said.
KYIV. Sept 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Union would provide EUR 55 million of donor aid to support small and medium enterprises (SME).
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine said on its website that the agreement was signed by Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius and Director of IPA Strategy of Directorate General for Enlargement of the European Commission Gerhard Schumann-Hitzler.
The EU is to provide the funds under the programme EU Support to Ukraine to Re-launch the Economy (EU SURE). The funds will be used in 15 regions of Ukraine to create Business Support Centers, where SME will get consultations on the legal and market issues of doing business in Ukraine and abroad.
First, the centers would help starting business in agricultural, energy efficiency, ecology projects, the improvement of the quality of public services, infrastructure, and innovation technologies.
Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Yulia Klymenko said that one of the tasks of the Business Support Centers is to make the way of businessmen to Europe easier.
“If SME want to produce, trade and buy in the EU with profits, they are to use the advantages of DCFTA – the free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU. Center consultants would help them to do this,” she said.
The ministry said that the similar initiative that includes aid to Ukraine in developing SME are plans to the EU to provide EUR 40 million to finance the loan guarantee fund. Banks would receive an additional incentive to credit SMEs. The authors of the programme expect that with the effect of the financial tool of 7-8% SME would be able to receive loans of EUR 300 million. The EU aid would be sent to facilitate Ukraine’s participation in EU programmes Horizon 2020 and COSME (the EU programme for the Competitiveness of SMEs).
KYIV. Sept 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has enacted a resolution by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), dated July 20, 2015, titled “On the measures to protect Ukraine’s national aviation interests.”
A decree to that effect, dated September 4, has been posted on the website of the head of state. The document is effective from the day of publication.
Control over the enforcement of the resolution has been vested with the NSDC secretary.
Under the NSDC resolution, the Cabinet is to urgently approve a plan of preparations for the introduction of Ukraine’s joint aviation space with the European Union and its member states, in particular, by adapting Ukraine’s air transportation laws to those of the EU.
The government also has one month to reorganize the State Aviation Service, to optimize state regulation of the use of the country’s airspace, to improve the functions of regulating air navigation services and organizing airspace, and the functions of certifying aviation businesses and aviation infrastructure; and to oversee (monitor) the civil aviation industry. In addition, the government is to consider increasing the number of state inspectors and improve pay conditions for them and for the persons authorized to conduct relevant inspections on the basis of audits carried out by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The Cabinet also has two months to approve plans of measures to develop Ukrainian civil aviation before 2020, in particular, by developing domestic and international flights based on projected figures for passenger and cargo traffic; launching new flight routes; optimizing aviation schools and aviation medical centers with the aim of improving the quality of their services and raising the level of aviation safety; and by turning Boryspil International Airport into an international airline hub through measures such as simplifying border checks for Ukrainian nationals arriving in the country and for foreign passengers on transit flights.
The government is also to prepare a new government program on in civil aviation safety, based on international experience, and submit the bill to the Verkhovna Rada for approval; to develop, in accordance with EU laws, mechanisms for providing state support to domestic airline companies to make them more competitive in a liberalized market for air transportation services, and to protect national interests in the civil aviation industry.
