On November 2 and 3, Kyiv will host the 21st Ukrainian CFO Forum, also known as the Ukrainian CFO Forum.
The main theme of the 2023 event is “Strategy and Tools for Business Transformation”. The forum will feature speeches, discussions, on-stage interviews, specialized webinars and workshops, and the event will bring together more than five hundred top managers from all over Ukraine in offline and online formats.
Why should you attend the 21st Ukrainian CFO Forum?
During the forum, more than 40 speakers – CFOs of leading international and Ukrainian companies – will help define a strategic plan for aligning resources with priorities and critical areas of development, and share their own experience on how businesses can use new tools and transformation strategies for agility and growth.
Key topics for discussion:
The forum will be held with the support of international companies Payoneer, Pivdenny Bank, KPMG in Ukraine, Boyden, Asters, Arzinger, Vchasno, Innoware, EY Ukraine, ACCA and other. partners.
For security reasons, the venue is not announced. The FA Service team is preparing an offline event and an online broadcast for those who are unable to attend the forum live.
More information about the program, speakers and partners of the forum is available on the website: https://cfo.ua/ukr/xxi_cfo_forum-2023.
Interfax readers have special participation conditions until October 25. With the promo code BraveInterfax20, you will receive -20% off all participation packages. Join in teams and invite your colleagues to divide the focus areas and ask questions to the speakers: https://cfo.ua/ukr/xxi_cfo_forum-2023#tickets
On the market of cottage towns in Kiev in September 2023 there are 97 objects, which is 11 more than a year earlier, said the director of consulting company “RealExpo” Victor Kovalenko.
“In the market of cottage construction in Kiev during the year appeared 11 new projects: one town in Goloseevsky, Dniprovsky, Obolonsky and Svyatoshinsky districts. Two new projects appeared in Darnytskyi and Desnyanskyi districts. Three new towns appeared in Solomensky district”, – Kovalenko is quoted in the research of “RealExpo”, published on the portal zagorodna.com.
Thus, in Solomenskyi district there are 27 cottage towns, in Goloseevskyi – 20, in Darnitskyi – 17, in Svyatoshynskyi – nine, in Desnyanskyi – eight, in the rest – five or less.
Townhouses (69%), cottages (30.9%), duplexes (11.3%) prevail in the structure of real estate types in cottage towns of the capital. The share of quadrohouses is only 2%.
According to Kovalenko, prices for cottage towns decreased by 7.8% compared to last year, to 53.8 thousand UAH/sq. m. The highest prices are offered in Podilsky district (86.3 thousand UAH/sq. m), Goloseevsky district (77 thousand UAH/sq. m) and in Svyatoshinsky district (50.7 thousand UAH/sq. m).
According to the company’s data, in September of this year construction of 24 townships is underway, while the number of completed townships is 65, eight are at the project stage. 41 cottage towns in Kyiv have been fully built and sold.
During the year the construction of nine cottage towns was completed, construction work has started on two. At the same time, construction has been suspended in 10 cottage towns.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Development of Albania has approved the form of international veterinary certificate, which the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the export of heat-treated dairy products, the press service of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection reported.
According to the report, currently it is possible to export three types of products to Albania: poultry, meat semi-finished products and heat-treated dairy products for nutrition.
On the official web portal of Gosprodpotrebsluzhba published the form of international certificate for the export of Ukrainian dairy products.
In addition, the agency reminded that in order to export food products, the market operator must submit a request for unscheduled veterinary control, which is carried out according to the requirements of the country of destination, to the main departments of the State Food and Consumer Service in the regions and Kiev, as well as its interregional branches at the state border, through which the products will be exported.
To the application of the market operator it is necessary to attach copies of the foreign economic agreement/contract; documents certifying the existence of special requirements established by the competent authority of the country of destination of the cargo (if any); documents certifying the characteristics of the cargo of food products and the vehicle (if any – invoice, CMR, commodity-transport specification of the food product).
The relevant territorial authority shall issue the international certificate on the working day after receipt of the market operator’s application.
A two-day conference in Lviv kicked off the open enrollment of participants in the three-year international cultural project “UREHERIT. Architects for Heritage in Ukraine: Recreating Identity and Memory”.
“During the conference in Lviv, we launched the open enrollment of the project participants. We are waiting for applications from Ukrainian professionals and communities about their willingness to work in one or another working group”, – said the initiator and coordinator of the project, member of the Board of the Lithuanian Association of Architects Rūta Leitanaitė (Rūta Leitanaitė).
The aim of the three-year UREHERIT project is to explore various topics related to the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage.
“Heritage is a catalyst for the future for any country, and even more so for Ukraine, which is now really looking for restoration to rediscover and recreate its image and vision of the future,” said UNESCO coordinator Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi at the opening of the conference.
Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy Rostislav Karandeev emphasized that coordination and interaction with the international community is a key factor for Ukraine in building solutions and developing algorithms for damage assessment, as well as restoration and preservation of cultural heritage.
Chairwoman of the State Agency for Tourism Development Maryana Oleskiv is convinced that the issue of incentives for heritage preservation is extremely important, so that it would be economically profitable for the owner to restore the monument. “Tourism is one of the ways that the heritage for the owner was not a yarmulke, but a commercially successful project. For our part, we are thinking, for example, of upgrading the category of a hotel that has carried out a full restoration of a historic building,” Oleskiw reported.
“We see cultural heritage not only as something we must preserve, but also as a resource for sustainable and democratic reconstruction of Ukraine, cities and the country itself – economically, environmentally and culturally. Heritage brings communities together, gives a sense of place and pride to a nation, and will help bring people back home,” Leitanaite said.
According to Ruth Schagemann, president of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), policy makers need to recognize the value of all heritage, not just monuments with protected status. As for the European experience, “good public procurement, good competition, transparent processes, participation of people, local society, and adaptation of rules” can help Ukrainians to preserve architectural heritage.
Among the main topics of UREHERIT are assessment of war damage to cultural heritage; criteria and methodologies for assessing the value of heritage; public participation in the restoration of cultural heritage; architectural competitions; integrated renovation of modernist housing; technologies and innovations in restoration projects, etc.
At this stage of the project the existing situation and needs of Ukraine as a whole and individual cities are being assessed. The results of the analysis and a detailed plan for the directions will be presented at the next conference, in Stockholm in May 2024.
The conference in Lviv was attended by more than 300 professionals, during which the first developments, program concepts and even investment projects were presented.
Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi, President of the NCAU, emphasized that it is extremely important to introduce the importance of cultural heritage into the broader consciousness. He sees the implementation of the project’s developments in professional education as a key task.
Two educational programs are already underway – for students and graduate architects. For students, an educational program on the revival of cultural heritage as a resource for sustainable transformation will be developed by the Kharkiv School of Architecture (KSAU), while advanced training programs for professionals are being developed by the NSAU and Swedish architects.
As reported, the international cultural project “UREHERIT. Architects for Heritage in Ukraine: Recreating Identity and Memory” was initiated by the Lithuanian Association of Architects. It is co-financed by the European Union’s EUR 1 million Creative Europe program (project code 101121502 – U-RE-HERIT) and is implemented by a consortium of 11 professional organizations from nine countries.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reaffirms its strong condemnation of the terrorist rocket attacks and attacks by Hamas armed groups against the population of Israel, which have already killed and wounded several thousand people, including Ukrainian citizens, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the situation in the Middle East on Tuesday.
“We consider categorically unacceptable the acts of violence deliberately directed by Hamas against the civilian population, including brutal killings and hostage-taking. The perpetrators of these crimes must be brought to the strictest possible accountability. We unwaveringly support Israel in its right to defend itself and its efforts to counter terrorist acts,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
At the same time, the ministry called it critically important “that the ongoing confrontation does not further lead to an increase in the number of civilian casualties on both sides of the conflict, both in Israel and in Palestine,” and declared its continued support for the “two-state solution” and the diplomatic path to resolving the conflict.
“We believe that the Middle East peace process remains the basis of all efforts aimed at restoring regional stability and security. Ukraine has consistently supported the realization of the principle of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, and supports the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through political and diplomatic means,” the statement reads.
“We are convinced that a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in the Middle East can be realized within the framework of the parties’ unconditional implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and other international agreements,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summarized.
Latvian port “Rīgas Universālais Termināls” (RUT) has received and unloaded the first test train with 1423 tons of Ukrainian rape, which were loaded into 54 containers, reported the Latvian edition ldz.lv.
According to the report, containers with Ukrainian grain were delivered by the subsidiary of SIA “LDZ CARGO” VAS “Latvijas dzelzceļš”. Containers from Ukraine arrived at the port of Riga through Kaunas intermodal railroad terminal, where they were loaded on the platforms of SIA “LDZ CARGO” to continue their journey to Riga. The Ukrainian rapeseed is currently being unloaded and stored at RUT warehouses.
“I am very pleased with the successful cooperation of Latvian Railways, Riga Port and Riga Universal Terminal, which provided the first delivery of Ukrainian grain cargoes by rail and transshipment in the port. Also in the future, Latvia will become an important ally of Ukraine, bringing Ukraine closer and integrating it into the European transportation network,” Latvian Transport Minister Kaspars Briškens said.
According to the information provided by the manager of the Freeport of Riga, Ansis Zeltins, since the beginning of the war the terminals of the Freeport of Riga have been actively working on the transportation of Ukrainian grain products. It was delivered to the port by road transport, which “is not comparable to railroad transport in terms of efficiency and volume of cargo transportation”.
Several terminals in the port of Riga by technological and infrastructural capabilities will be fully ready to receive and efficiently handle container trains with Ukrainian grain products. We hope that this first test of the entire logistics chain will be successful, and from now on we will regularly receive trains with Ukrainian grain in the Port of Riga,” he emphasized.
Receiving grain in containers is a new experience for the terminals of the Port of Riga, the publication noted.
Edgars Rudzitis, head of the wholesale warehouses department of RUT, said that the terminal is equipped and ready to receive grain container trains from Ukraine. It has the necessary technology to handle containers, warehouses and suitable infrastructure for bulk storage and cargo loading.
In spite of the new type of transshipment and difficulties, all works have been performed in the shortest possible time – the terminal’s possibilities have also allowed the carrier to fulfill its main requirement – to free the railway platforms quickly, so that they could be used for new shipments, he said.
Rinalds Plavnieks, Chairman of the Board of VAS “Latvijas dzelzceļš”, in turn, said that the Ukrainian grain delivered in containers is the first cargo from Ukraine, which will be transported through the company’s infrastructure.
“We have repeatedly confirmed that the capacities of Latvian railway infrastructure and SIA “LDZ CARGO” allow us to transport and handle large volumes of cargo, including grain from Ukraine. In accordance with the current situation, we have created new freight transportation options and plan to develop them in the future, so that the transportation of grain and other products between Ukraine and Latvia can be carried out regularly,” assured the cargo carrier.
Containers were shipped from Ukraine on September 25, on October 8 they were reloaded on the platforms of SIA “LDZ CARGO” in Kaunas, and on October 11 the platforms arrived to the port of Riga and unloading began at the Riga universal terminal. Railway transportation was organized by SIA “LDZ CARGO” together with the customer SIA “LTG Cargo Ukraine” under a cooperation agreement concluded in November 2022.
