Turkey has officially applied to join BRICS, Bloomberg reports citing its sources.
The publication writes that such a decision is due to the fact that the country wants to strengthen its global influence, as well as to establish new ties outside the traditional Western allies.
BRICS is an abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. This association is also called an analog of the G7 or G20 – a club for the interests of countries that are not satisfied with the “dominance” of the West. Earlier this year, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were joined by four new members – Iran, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia was invited to join, but has not yet done so.
Malaysia, Thailand and Azerbaijan have applied to join BRICS. The next BRICS summit to discuss its expansion will be held in Russia in late October 2024.
On August 30, 2024 PJSC Insurance Company “Columnaid Ukraine” has received from the new shareholder SCP Luxembourg S.A.R.L. the message about acquisition on August 27, 2024 of a significant block of shares exceeding the threshold value of 95% of voting shares of the company.
According to the message of the insurer in the information disclosure system of the NCSSM, SCP Luxembourg owns 100% of the authorized capital of IC “Columnaid Ukraine”.
The message indicates that the date of alienation of shares of IC “Colonnade Ukraine” by previous shareholders of the company – Colonnade Finance S.A R.L., Fairfax Financial (US) LLC and Fairfax Holdings Inc. – is August 27, 2024.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine on December 28, 2023 agreed SCP Luxembourg SARL direct ownership of 99.9833% of PJSC IC Colonnade Ukraine.
PJSC IC Colonnade Ukraine (until 2016 – PJSC IC QBE Ukraine) was founded in 1998 as the first international insurer in the Ukrainian market. In November 2015 the company Colonnade Finance SARL (Luxembourg) has concentrated 99,9833% of the authorized capital of the insurer.
Earlier Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited has concluded an agreement with QBE Management (Ireland) Limited and its Ukrainian partner on indirect acquisition of 100% of the Ukrainian IC through the companies Colonnade Finance SARL (Luxembourg), Fairfax Holdings Inc. (Connecticut, USA), Fairfax Financial (US) LLS (Delaware, USA).
FUIB, the largest Ukrainian bank with private capital, , has joined the state program “National Cashback”. The bank was one of the first to support the project under the patronage of the Ministry of Economy and became a partner of the program. In addition, FUIB strengthened the initiative by drawing 700 prizes of UAH 1000 and 3 charging stations among its customers participating in the program. The main winner will receive UAH 1,000,000 from the bank!
The National Cashback program is based on the idea of supporting citizens and Ukrainian business. The program will be implemented through the purchase of Ukrainian goods, with the client receiving 10% cashback from the state to a special card “Cashback ‘Made in Ukraine’ opened in the program’s partner banks. These funds can be spent on a list of services defined by the program.
“We were among the first to join this important government program. Cashback from FUIB has been one of our competitive advantages before, and by participating in the National Cashback program, our cashback ecosystem will become one of the most profitable in the banking market. Also, thanks to the convenience of our application – FUIB Online, registration in the program takes just a few clicks. Everything is intuitive. We will be glad to see as many new customers as possible who will join the program through FUIB Online and will be convinced of the profitability and financial advantages of our bank,” emphasizes Dmytro Polishchuk, FUIB’s Deputy Chairman of the Board for Retail Banking.
Cashback accrual for consumers starts on September 2. The first stage of the program will take place from September to December 2024. The minimum monthly cashback under the program will be UAH 2, the maximum – UAH 3,000. Funds will be credited to the card for the current month’s expenses until the 20th of the following month.
What goods can be purchased to participate in the National Cashback program?
Consumer goods made in Ukraine that are included in the list of goods participating in the program by the manufacturers participating in the program, with the exception of excisable goods. Also, Ukrainian wine without alcohol, honey drinks, medicines of Ukrainian origin and other categories listed in the appendix of the CMU Resolution.
What can I spend the cashback I receive from the state?
The cashback can be spent on education, medical treatment, sports facilities, movies, entertainment, catering, legal assistance, etc. In addition, you can pay utility bills, buy tickets, top up your mobile account, or pay for other services listed in the annex to the resolution. Payment for these services must be made exclusively in non-cash form.
What benefits will you get by joining the program through the PUMB Onlineapplication ?
In addition to 10% cashback from the state, customers who register in the program and fulfill the conditions of the promotion* will have the opportunity to win a mega prize of UAH 1,000,000. There will also be 700 prizes of UAH 1,000 each, and in September, the drawing of 3 powerful Bluetti AC200MAX charging stations will start.
When you buy Ukrainian, everyone wins! And together with FUIB, these advantages become much greater.
Read herehow to take part in the state program “National Cashback” with PUMB .
*Official rules of the Promo Campaign for UAH 1 million and 700 prizes of UAH 1000 each from PUMB can be found on the bank’s website in the section “Promotions for regular customers”.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/news/press-release/1011177.html
The municipal enterprise Miskavtotrans of the Ternopil City Council has announced a tender for the purchase of 8-11 m long buses for a total of EUR 2 million under the Urban Public Transport of Ukraine program funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to the EIB’s announcement, the bids are scheduled to be opened on November 5 this year.
The tender documents state that the buses should be fully low-floor, with 20-35 seats.
The first batch is to be delivered no later than 32 weeks from the date of receipt of the advance payment by the supplier, and the contract is expected to last for 40 weeks. However, price is not the only criterion for awarding the contract, but all criteria are specified only in the procurement documents.
As reported, Ternopil has already tried three times to purchase buses through an international tender – the last time the tender for the purchase of 15 buses 9-12 m long was canceled at the end of 2023.
According to Etalon Corporation, a Turkish company was declared the winner, but during the tender period, prices for the equipment rose and it became unprofitable to supply them.
Initially, the tender was announced in early 2021, with applications submitted by the Belarusian MAZ and Etalon Corporation, which was expecting to win the tender, but the procedure was delayed and stopped due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Under the Urban Public Transport program, the EIB was supposed to provide a loan of up to EUR 2 million for the purchase of 15 buses by Miskavtotrans, including spare parts, equipment and tools for maintenance and related services.
Zaporozhkoks, one of Ukraine’s largest coke and chemical producers and a member of Metinvest Group, increased its blast furnace coke output by 2.1% year-on-year to 584.1 thousand tons from 572.3 thousand tons in January-August this year.
According to the company, it produced 74.5 thousand tons of coke in August.
As reported, Zaporozhkoks increased its blast furnace coke production by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022, up to 856.8 thousand tons from 737.4 thousand tons.
“Zaporozhkoks produces about 10% of coke in Ukraine and has a full technological cycle of coke products processing. It also produces coke oven gas and pitch coke.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Mykolaiv region has received 102 powerful “power banks” from Tesla, said Vitaliy Kim, head of the regional state administration, in a telegram.
These are Tesla Powerwall 2.0 energy storage systems with a System Backup Gateway 2 power management source for use in cases of power outages and instability of the local power grid.
On Friday, 30 devices were handed over to healthcare institutions, 38 to educational institutions, 25 to the State Emergency Service, and 9 to social infrastructure institutions.
The project was implemented thanks to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Tesla, the Institute of Telecommunications – National Research Institute (Warsaw), the Polish government, the American charity Direct Relief, and the Yevhen Pivovarov Charitable Foundation.
According to Kim, the region is actively cooperating to provide the region with alternative sources of generation, in particular, the installation of solar and wind power plants.
