PJSC Raiffeisen Bank Aval (Kyiv) saw a 13.9% rise in net profit or by UAH 619.353 million in 2018, to UAH 5.088 billion, the bank has reported on its website. As reported, Raiffeisen Bank Aval in January-September 2018 saw a net profit of UAH 4.071 billion, which is 1% more than in the same period of 2017 (UAH 4.032 billion). The bank’s assets in January-September 2018 increased 7.5%, to UAH 71.246 billion, including loans and customer debt increased 24.3%, to UAH 45.783 billion.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval was founded in 1992. According to its data, on January 1, 2018 Raiffeisen Bank International owned 68.28% of the financial institution, while the EBRD held 30%.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval ranked fifth among 77 operating banks as of December 1, 2018 in terms of assets (UAH 70.003 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
As of January 2019 4.08 million ha of forests has been certified in Ukraine, and most of the forests are kept by the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine, the press service of the authority has reported, referring to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Ukraine. According to the authority, the certification confirms that the forestry system in the certified forests meets international requirements for management and use of forests in line with sustainable development principles.
“The regions of Ukraine with forests have a high percentage of international certification. Unfortunately, certification did not occur in the southern and eastern regions due to the lack of funding,” Deputy Head of the State Forest Resources Agency Volodymyr Bondar said, adding that the authority intends to continue certification this year.
According to the State Forest Resources Agency, at the end of 2018, the Accreditation Services International (ASI) inspected the activities of audit companies for forest certification and did not reveal any violations.
The total area of forest areas of Ukraine is almost 10.4 million hectares. The forest cover of Ukraine is 15.9%. The State Forest Resources Agency manages 7.6 million hectares of forests (73% of the forest fund of Ukraine).
Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman intends to visit Oslo (Norway) at the end of January of this year, where he will take part in a business forum.
“At the end of January, I plan an official visit to Norway. One of the events of the trip will be a business forum, which we will open together with the leadership of the Norwegian government,” Groysman said on Facebook.
According to the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the potential of economic cooperation between Ukraine and Norway needs to be strengthened, and this is facilitated by both the political dialogue between the countries and the expansion of the areas of economic cooperation that has been observed recently.
It is noted that now more than 50 Norwegian companies operate in Ukraine. The range of investment is not only trade in goods traditional for both countries, primarily metal and food, but also advanced technologies, in particular, green energy – solar and wind.
“The planned volume of Norwegian investments in this particular area will reach hundreds of millions of dollars. Relevant energy projects will be implemented in the south of Ukraine,” the report says.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on January 23-24 will make a working visit to Switzerland to participate in the annual World Economic Forum, his press service said. “The head of state will take part in the session on the Strategic Outlook for Central and Eastern Europe and hold a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of international organizations, world leaders, and representatives of leading business circles of the world,” the message says. The president of Ukraine will also chair the second meeting of the National Investment Council, which will be held in Davos.