A reception organized by the Embassy of India in Ukraine in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Republic Day was held in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.
The event brought together representatives of the Ukrainian government, diplomatic corps, Indian diaspora and the public. Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Perebyinis was the main guest of the event.
“On January 26, 1950, the Constitution of India came into force, marking the transition of our country to a sovereign, independent, democratic, secular republic. We are proud of the ideals of justice, freedom, equality and fraternity,” said Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Ukraine Ravi Shankar.
In his speech, the diplomat emphasized the significance of Republic Day for the Indian people, stressing that in 75 years India has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world, which is preparing to become the third largest.
“Bold reforms, investments in infrastructure and innovations such as quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and space exploration make our country a key player in global processes. Another priority is the biotechnology industry, in particular the Genome project. It is also worth mentioning the latest achievement – docking in space, which has brought the country into the top four world leaders in the industry,” the ambassador said.
Shankar devoted a significant part of his speech to Ukrainian-Indian relations. He recalled the historic visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kyiv in August 2024, which became a “landmark” for bilateral cooperation:
“We seek to transform our relationship from a Comprehensive Partnership to a Strategic Partnership. Special attention is paid to humanitarian support for Ukraine. In particular, India has donated mobile hospitals “BHISHM Cubes”, which are now helping to quickly treat the wounded and save precious lives on the front line, and has decided to finance the project “Renovation and modernization of the surgical department of the Zbarazh Central Hospital in Ternopil region worth $1.5 million,” the ambassador said.
He emphasized that India supports a comprehensive, just peace in accordance with international law.
The Ambassador praised the growing interest of Ukrainians in Indian culture, language and traditions. He thanked Ukrainian students who study Hindi and emphasized the importance of cultural exchanges. “The program signed last year opens up new opportunities for academic scholarships, international projects, and preserving our common heritage,” Shankar said.
At the end of the event, guests enjoyed traditional Indian food and music. The event highlighted past achievements and optimistic prospects for cooperation between India and Ukraine in the coming decades.
India recognized Ukraine’s independence on December 26, 1991. On January 17, 1992, diplomatic relations between Ukraine and India were established. Republic Day is a national holiday of India that celebrates the adoption of the Constitution of India and the country’s transition from a British dominion to a republic on January 26, 1950.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua
Private healthcare facilities are ready to work under the Medical Guarantee Program (MGP) and propose to revise approaches to the formation of certain packages for the MGP, which will reduce the cost of medical services and optimize budget expenditures.
This was stated by members of the Association of Private Medical Institutions (APMI) at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Mykola Skavronsky, deputy director general of the Cinevo medical laboratory, noted that the laboratory has not stopped working since the beginning of the war, despite the fact that in 2022 Cinevo lost more than 30 branches in different regions.
“It’s quite a shame to see that recovery programs exist only for state or municipal medicine. This completely ignores the fact that private medicine also suffered from the war. But, unlike the state and municipal ones, all private providers are recovering and continue to work with their own or credit funds, not with budget funds and without assistance,” he said.
Commenting on the first experience of Cinevo’s cooperation with the NHSU in 2024, Skavronsky noted that the laboratory’s entry into the PMG “became a kind of spotlight that highlighted the situation with the laboratory industry in Ukraine as a whole.”
“I can say that the state does not know and does not understand the real need of doctors and patients for laboratory diagnostics. Now it is believed that laboratory diagnostics are needed as much as they are ordered, not as much as they are needed. Cinevo’s cooperation with the NHSU has revealed the fact that there is simply a huge unrealized demand for laboratory diagnostics in Ukraine, in March last year alone, we performed almost 730 thousand tests for 72 thousand people, and we saw that of these people who came to us for PMG, two-thirds were new people,” he said.
Skavronsky noted that at basic prices, Cinevo performed tests for about UAH 528 million, at prices, the cost of tests was about UAH 200 million, while the NHSU paid UAH 44 million for them.
“We asked the NHSU to create a laboratory package that would be transparent and clear, where it would be clear what tests and, most importantly, which doctors can prescribe them and in what quantity. Because it turned out that there were no restrictions at all, doctors prescribed tests that should not have been prescribed. It is not the laboratory that should decide what to do and what not to do, there should be a system that simply does not allow prescribing something wrong,” he said.
According to Skavronsky, one of the most popular tests funded by the budget in 2024 was vitamin D tests, of which the laboratory performed about 100 thousand.
“I don’t think Ukraine is such a rich country to cover vitamin D tests in such volumes at the expense of taxpayers. But doctors prescribe them. Why doctors prescribe them is a bigger question for doctors and pharmaceutical companies,” he emphasized.
Skavronsky also emphasized that the implementation of the proposals developed by the laboratory allowed “not only not to increase the tariff, but even to reduce it.”
“As a private laboratory, we would be ready to work with tariffs that are 15% lower, but subject to clear criteria. In recent years, we have heard that money follows the patient, but over the past year, especially in the first quarter, we have seen that money does not follow the patient,” he said.
For his part, Vadym Zukin, Chief Operating Officer of the Leleka Multidisciplinary Medical Center, reminded that Leleka is the only medical center in Ukraine that has international JCI accreditation, and the clinic received its latest confirmation at the end of 2024.
“Literally two months before the full-scale invasion began, the Minister of Health and his deputy came to us and we discussed how these standards could be implemented for other market players. But now it seems that the state is sailing its own ship, and we are trying to catch up with the Ministry of Health and convince it of something,” he explained the situation.
Zukin emphasized that “the state should realize that it is more profitable for it to become a purchaser of medical services rather than a provider and not to invest in fixed assets, since private companies already have these funds.”
He also suggested that the NHSU should enter into longer-term contracts for participation in the PMG.
“Currently, certain PMG packages will have three-year contracts, which is better than one year, but it means nothing, because in Europe and the US they think in terms of seven years, 10 years, 15 years,” he said.
Zukin believes that “now the reform has started to move a little bit in the opposite direction from the notion that money follows patients, and I would like to bring it back in the right direction.”
For her part, Oleksandra Mashkevych, medical director of the Dobrobut medical network, noted that the network is a major taxpayer, employing 3,000 people, including 1,300 doctors. At the same time, 131 employees have been mobilized from Dobrobut and the clinic continues to pay their salaries.
“We are recognized by the Ministry of Health as critical infrastructure. In 2024, we invested almost UAH 0.5 billion in our development, most of which was spent on our energy efficiency. I would like to note that investments in energy efficiency in state and municipal institutions are not made at their own expense, but at the expense of the state or donors or sponsors. We do it on our own,” she said.
At the same time, Mashkevych emphasized that Dobrobut’s cooperation with the NHSU is “quite interesting.” In particular, the clinic has been contracted for a package of assisted reproductive technologies, under which 300 patients have completed treatment cycles and almost 45% of women have already confirmed pregnancy status.
“The tariff for this service was too low for us, we worked in the red, realizing that we were lending a hand to the state, in fact, we gave the state the opportunity to use our facilities to provide free medical services. We had long rounds of negotiations with the NHSU, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Finance, and they heard us and increased the tariff. This tariff does not cover all our expenses, but we continue to work with it,” she said.
Commenting on the plans to work with the NHSU, Mashkevich noted that Dobrobut plans to expand its participation in the UHI-2025 and is waiting for the NHSU’s decision on contracting for new packages.
At the same time, Mashkevych called it a positive decision to allow private institutions to use the state unified portal of medical vacancies launched by the Ministry of Health.
The press conference was organized by the Interfax-Ukraine agency and the Association of Private Medical Institutions.
Afanasieva, Bereznitsky, CLINIC, MASHKEVYCH, MEDICINE, Ministry of Health, Skavronsky, URAKIN, Yeshchenko, Гавриченко, Зукін
The number of commercial flights in the European Union in 2024 amounted to 6.7 million, which is 5.8% higher than the previous year, according to the EU Statistical Office. However, their number remained below the 7 million mark recorded in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Irregular flights, such as charters, accounted for 8.7% of the total number of flights. The peak was in the summer months: in June, their share was 10.3%, in July – 10.7%, and in August – 10.1%.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport handled the largest number of flights last year (484 thousand). This is followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle (463 thousand) and Frankfurt am Main Airport (437 thousand). The top ten airports in terms of traffic also include Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Rome, Athens, Vienna, and Dublin.
Eurostat’s definition of commercial air travel includes passenger, cargo, and mail flights.
At a meeting on February 17, the shareholders of Arsenal Insurance (Kyiv) plan to decide to allocate UAH 50.1 million of profit for 2021 for dividends, according to the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC).
As noted in the draft decision of the meeting, given that the company complies with the solvency capital requirements, there are no significant risks of violation.
The amount of dividends per ordinary share is planned to be approved at UAH 167. To establish that dividends shall be paid directly to shareholders in proportion to the number of shares owned by each of them within a period not exceeding six months from the date of adoption of such a decision.
Arsenal Insurance is the legal successor of Arsenal-Dnipro, which has been operating in Ukraine since 2005. It is represented in all regional centers and some major cities of the country.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, the company is among the top ten insurers in Ukraine in terms of premiums collected in the first nine months of 2024.
PrJSC Ukrainian Graphite (Ukrgraphite, Zaporizhzhya) is trying to reduce energy consumption and improve efficiency by purchasing and installing modern equipment.
According to the interim report of the company’s management, the gradual improvement of manufacturing technologies to improve the quality characteristics of carbon graphite products has made it possible to produce products that are competitive and in demand on the global market.
Nevertheless, over the past three years, there has been a reduction in production and partial shutdown of steel, electric steel and ferroalloy producers in Ukraine that are consumers of Ukrgraphite’s products. Therefore, the volume of sales to the foreign and domestic markets decreased compared to the previous years.
“In order to optimize risks, we are setting up new logistics routes that allow us to plan timely delivery of raw materials and consumables to the plant and finished products to end consumers. One of the challenges is the shortage of skilled workers and engineers involved in the continuous cycle of metallurgical production. This is primarily due to the mobilization of employees, women with children going abroad and internal migration in the country,” the management report states.
Nevertheless, the company continues to operate, accept orders, manufacture products, upgrade production facilities, pay taxes and provide resources for Ukraine’s recovery.
At the same time, it is specified that today the production of products is carried out in the context of the energy crisis, which requires additional measures to improve energy efficiency for the smooth operation of the enterprise. The main areas of work in 2024 include the reconstruction of a commercial natural gas metering unit and internal gas supply networks at the enterprise (to reduce additional charges during low gas consumption). Engineering works were completed and the project was agreed with Zaporizhgaz JSC, civil defense and EIA projects were developed, and in May-July, the company purchased inventory for installation works, including imported equipment.
In August 2014, installation works were started; a steam boiler with a nominal steam capacity of 5 tons per hour was purchased and installed to ensure steam generation in the required quantity for the production of pressed products. Commissioning of the boiler will allow saving up to 40% of gas when the boiler house operates in autonomous mode. All equipment was installed, connected to the existing power supply networks and put into pilot operation.
The company also reconstructed the Graphite substation, installing and connecting new voltage and current transformers.
“Ukrgraphit’s management is taking all the necessary measures to maintain the stability and development of the company in the current conditions in the country and the economy. (…) The main important events, risks and uncertainties that occurred during the reporting period and affected the financial statements are: uncertainty about the timing of the end of the special martial law regime; disruption of production and logistics routes, destruction of infrastructure, limited inventories and import and export opportunities; energy crisis; staff shortages; economic and legal risks; significant currency appreciation, etc.”, the report summarizes.
As reported, Ukrgraphite ended the first nine months of 2024 with a net loss of UAH 118.074 million, while in the same period of 2023 it made a net profit of UAH 128.230 million. Net income for the period decreased by 18.4% to UAH 1 billion 79.194 million. As of the end of September this year, the company’s retained earnings amounted to UAH 3 billion 755.517 million.
“In 2023, Ukrgraphite increased its net profit by 2.34 times compared to 2022 to UAH 122.941 million, and net income by 1.2% to UAH 1 billion 564.656 million.
“Ukrgraphite is Ukraine’s leading producer of graphitized electrodes for electric steel-making, ore-thermal and other types of electric furnaces, commercial carbon masses for Soderberg electrodes, and carbon-based lining materials for metallurgical, machine-building, chemical and other industries.
According to the National Depository of Ukraine (NDU) as of the second quarter of 2024, Intergraphite Holdings Company Limited (Bermuda) owns 23.9841% of the company, and C6 Safe Group Limited (Cyprus) owns 72.0394%.
The authorized capital of the company is UAH 233.959 million, with a par value of UAH 3.35 per share.
Airlines increased passenger traffic by 10.4% in 2024, setting a record, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Compared to the level of pre-pandemic 2019, the figure increased by 3.8%. Aircraft load factor increased to 83.5%, which is also a record, compared to 82.2% a year earlier.
Last year, airlines increased passenger traffic on international flights by 13.6% compared to 2023, and on domestic flights by 5.7%. “The year 2024 made it absolutely clear that people want to travel.
The number of trips reached record levels on both domestic and international routes,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh, quoted in the report. – “The growth of aviation impacts societies and economies at all levels through jobs, market development, trade, innovation, research and more.
“Looking ahead to 2025, there is every indication that travel demand will continue to grow, albeit at a more moderate pace of 8%, which is more in line with historical averages,” he added.
In 2024, European airlines increased passenger traffic on international flights by 9.7%, while flight load factor rose by 0.4 percentage points to 84.1%.
In North America, the first indicator grew by 6.8%, while the second decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 84.2%.
In the Asia-Pacific region, passenger traffic jumped by 26%, and flight load factor rose by 0.8 percentage points to 83.8%. Traffic on domestic airlines in China grew by 12.3%, in India by 6%, in Brazil by 4.6%, and in the US by 3.7%.
The cargo turnover of global airlines in 2024 increased by 11.3% and exceeded the previous maximum recorded in 2021, IATA said in a statement.
This was driven, in particular, by a 3.6% increase in global trade in goods. IATA represents 340 airlines from around the world, accounting for more than 80% of global air traffic.
