First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv and Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Francis Gurry have reached an agreement on a joint project to develop the National Strategy for Intellectual Property in Ukraine. “I just met with Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization Francis Gurry. It is nice that his organization has highly and positively appreciated our work in reforming our intellectual property domain. We agreed on a joint project to develop the National Intellectual Property Strategy and continue to form an extensive network of innovation support centers in Ukraine,” Kubiv wrote on his Facebook page.
Also, he said, together with WIPO, Ukraine will continue to introduce alternative procedures for resolving disputes in the field of intellectual property.
DEVELOPING, HELP, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, NATIONAL STRATEGY, UKRAINE
Ukraine in 2018 increased imports of citrus fruits by 27% compared with 2017, to 337,860 tonnes.
According to customs statistics promulgated by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, in monetary terms imports of citrus fruits increased by 26%, to $216.3 million.
At the same time, imports were mainly carried out from Turkey (56% in monetary terms), Egypt (14.5%), and Italy (5.7%, in 2017 Spain ranked third).
In addition, in 2018 Ukraine imported 250,900 tonnes of bananas, which is 5% more than in 2017. In monetary terms, imports grew by almost 3%, to $144.3 million.
The largest importers of bananas to Ukraine were Ecuador (47.8% of deliveries in monetary terms), Costa Rica (33%), and Colombia (6.64%).
Exports of citrus fruits from Ukraine in 2018 amounted to 411 tonnes, bananas some 28 tonnes.
The National Bank (NBU) could in the near future reduce the rate of mandatory sale of foreign currency earnings for exporters from 50% to 30% or cancel it completely, Deputy Governor of the NBU Oleg Churiy has said. “If we carry out another wave of currency liberalization in the near future, we will remove or reduce these restrictions. Perhaps, we will reduce mandatory sale from 50% to 30%, but this will depend on the macroeconomic situation. Perhaps, we will completely cancel it,” he said.
The NBU in the policy of gradual liberalization of the currency market focuses not on temporary restrictions but on macroeconomic indicators and possible consequences, he said.
According to the banker, the central bank considers the abolition of compulsory foreign exchange earnings for exporters to be among the priorities of currency liberalization along with the lifting of restrictions on the repatriation of dividends to foreign investors.
Ukraine in 2018 imported 290,600 tonnes of frozen fish, which was 14.9% more than a year earlier, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine has said. The imports in monetary terms increased by 18.7% from 2017, to $351.59 million.
In 2018, Ukraine increased exports of frozen fish by 2.3%, 670 tonnes, the exports were estimated at $ 1.52 million (an increase by 41.4%).
In addition, the State Fiscal Service reported imports of fresh or chilled fish to Ukraine in 2018 totaled 15,410 tonnes, which was 24.6% up on 2017. The imports in monetary terms grew by 23.7%, to $107.35 million.
Trade turnover between Ukraine and India in January-October 2018 amounted to $2.3 billion, of which $1.5 billion was the cost of sunflower oil, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said. “India ranks first in terms of exports of Ukrainian goods to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region and is the fifth largest buyer of Ukrainian products among countries in the world,” he wrote on Facebook.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said on Twitter the Ukrainian delegation headed by Kubiv on January 11-13 is on a working visit to India to participate in the 25th international summit “New India: Rising to Global Occasions.”
