During the Week of International Cooperation Initiatives, which took place on October 17-25 in Tashkent, Anthony Bringazen, Vice President for Central Asia of the Saudi company ACWA Power, said that the company is implementing large-scale projects in Uzbekistan worth about $15 billion.
This fund has been allocated for 15 projects. Most of the projects are related to wind energy. In particular, 87% of the investment will be directed to green energy projects, and the rest to the production of green hydrogen. All 15 projects are planned to be commissioned by 2030.
Anthony Bringaisen noted that after Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan accounts for the largest volume of the company’s investments.
It is noted that the $1.1 billion TPP project in the Syr Darya will provide electricity to more than 3 million households and hundreds of industrial enterprises. The first phase of the green hydrogen project will produce 3 thousand tons of hydrogen. Next, the focus will be on mineral fertilizer processing and the construction of a 52 megawatt wind farm.
As of October 22, farmers in all regions of Ukraine planted 5.7 million hectares of winter crops, up from 5.4 million hectares last week, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
According to the report, winter crops are being sown in all regions. In total, they have already sown almost 4.7 million hectares, which is 90% of the forecast. In particular, winter wheat has been sown on 4.1 million hectares (3.8 million hectares a week earlier), which is 92% of the projected area under the crop, barley – on 486.1 thousand hectares (421.3 thousand hectares) and 76%, rye – on 66 thousand hectares (62.5 thousand hectares) and 94%, rapeseed – on 1.05 million hectares (1.048 million hectares) and 94%.
Agrarians in Volyn, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil and Chernihiv regions have completed sowing winter crops. Farmers in 12 regions have completed sowing winter rape.
According to the Ministry, the leaders in terms of sowing of winter grain crops are farmers of Mykolaiv – 503.1 thou hectares (100.5%), Zaporizhzhia – 100.8 thou hectares (99.9%) and Khmelnytskyi – 238.8 thou hectares (99.5%) regions.
As of the same date a year earlier, Ukraine planted 5.4 mln ha with winter crops, 3.733 mln ha with wheat, 403 thou ha with barley, 76 thou ha with rye and 1.142 mln ha with rapeseed.
The U.S. Treasury Department has published rules on its website designed to limit U.S. investment in technologies that could be used in the military of China and some other countries.
“Countries of concern are using U.S. investments in ways that could lead to accelerated development of sensitive technologies and products that undermine our national security interests,” the White House said in a statement on the publication of the rules.
The rules prohibit U.S. citizens from investing in technologies that could threaten America’s national security and require notifying the Treasury Department of a number of related transactions.
The White House noted that “the administration is committed to ensuring America’s security by preventing the People’s Republic of China from developing key technologies that are critical to modernizing its military.”
The rules mention semiconductors, microelectronics, quantum information technology, and artificial intelligence because these technologies could form the basis for new products in the military.
“U.S. investments, including intangible benefits such as management assistance and access to the investment and human resources networks that often accompany capital flows, should not be used to help interested countries develop their military, intelligence, and cyber capabilities,” said Assistant Treasury Secretary for Investment Security Paul Rosen, quoted by the Treasury Department.
China's technology, U.S. investments, U.S. Treasury Department
The indirect cost of housing construction in Ukraine increased by 2.1% in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter, according to the indices of indirect cost of housing construction in the regions of Ukraine approved by the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories.
The relevant document establishes indirect indicators of the cost of housing construction, calculated as of October 1. According to it, the average indicator in Ukraine is 22.6 thousand UAH/square meter.
According to the Ministry, the indirect cost of construction of 1 square meter of housing in Kiev in the third quarter rose to 26.4 thousand UAH, in Kiev region – to 22.6 thousand UAH, in Lviv region – to 22.5 thousand UAH, in Zakarpattya region – 19.6 thousand UAH, Ivano-Frankivsk region – 20.3 thousand UAH, Odessa region – 21.7 thousand UAH. Also high indicators are set in Kharkiv and Donetsk regions – 23.8 thousand UAH/sq. m.
In January-September this year, Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, including its associates and joint ventures, increased its payments to the budgets of all levels in Ukraine by 38% year-on-year to UAH 15.2 billion.
According to the company’s press release on Tuesday, Metinvest remains a pillar of the country’s economy amid the full-scale war.
Among the largest payments is the fee for subsoil use, which increased 2.8 times compared to the first and third quarters of 2023, to UAH 4.2 billion. The Group also increased its unified social tax payments by 16% to UAH 2.8 billion. In addition, Metinvest paid UAH 2.5 billion in personal income tax to the budget, up 11% compared to the first three quarters of 2023.
Land payments in January-September 2024 increased by 6% year-on-year to UAH 948 million, and environmental tax by 21% to UAH 543 million. At the same time, income tax payments decreased by 32% to UAH 1.9 billion.
“In a time of war, paying taxes is critical to supporting the Ukrainian economy. The main task of our company is to strengthen the country’s defense capabilities by all means available: to be a reliable employer, investor, manufacturer of steel products for the frontline and supplier of ammunition and equipment to the Armed Forces. Only by working together can we create a solid foundation for Ukraine’s victory and ensure a peaceful future for Ukrainians,” said Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest.
As reported earlier, Metinvest increased its tax payments to the state budget by one and a half times to UAH 10 billion in the first half of 2024. In 2023, the company paid UAH 14.6 billion to the state budget.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The group’s enterprises are mainly located in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Ukraine and the EU have agreed to increase the capacity of electricity imports during the winter months to 2.1 GW, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Tuesday.
“Starting December 1, the maximum capacity of imports of e/e from EU countries will be increased from the current 1.7 GW to 2.1 GW. This will increase the resilience of the Ukrainian energy system in the face of criminal Russian shelling and infrastructure destruction. I am grateful to European partners, in particular to European Commissioner Kadri Simson for their consistent position and effective steps to support our energy system on the eve of winter,” Energy Minister German Galushchenko was quoted by the press service as saying.
Ukraine will also additionally have an opportunity for guaranteed 250 MW of overflow capacity from the EU in emergency assistance mode.
As the Energy Ministry recalled, the need to make an important decision for Ukraine on increasing the import capacity was discussed at a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September in Kiev.
