The European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed with the Ukrainian Government on a series of new financing operations, in particular, the sides signed an agreement on lending EUR 50 million to finance transport infrastructure improvements throughout the country and a grant of EUR 10 million to finance the implementation of the Ukraine Higher Education Project, the bank has said in a press release. “The projects signed today will result in faster and safer transport infrastructure, better academic facilities and more resources for higher education programmes, all of which will strengthen the country’s competitiveness,” the press service of the bank reported on Monday, citing EIB Vice-President Vazil Hudák.
The EUR 50 million EIB loan to improve connectivity in Ukraine and in the Eastern Neighbourhood provides support for transport projects expected to have significant positive local impacts. Road safety, connectivity, and traffic management and control projects are under consideration, with a view to contributing to the economic development of Ukraine.
The project’s first phase will focus on the development of intelligent transport system on national roads, the construction of a missing section of the northern by-pass around the city of Ternopil forming part of the extended TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks), and a number of multi-level railway crossings.
Furthermore, the project will support the development of future investment in railway connections between the European Union and Ukraine.
“The project is backed by a EUR 14 million EU grant for the Ternopil bypass investment and a EUR 1.85 million EU grant for project preparation and implementation. Both grants are being provided under the Neighbourhood Investment Platform (NIP),” the bank said.
Ukraine and the EIB also signed the EUR 10 million grant agreement under the multi-donor E5P fund that supports municipal investments in energy-efficiency and environmental projects in the Eastern Partnership countries.
“The grant will help finance the implementation of a Ukraine Higher Education Project, which the EIB is already supporting. Furthermore, the EIB concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science for the preparation of a project to create several centres of excellence in the country,” the bank said.
The Ukraine Higher Education Project has already received a EUR 120 million loan from the EIB and EUR 30 million from Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), the EIB said.
The grant will be used to finance, in particular, seven universities in the cities of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Sumy and Vinnitsa in order to significantly reduce the energy consumption of their buildings with positive environmental impacts.
The project is also supported by a EUR 3 million EU grant from the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) to assist implementation arrangements, the bank said.
According to the report, the agreements were signed at the EU-Ukraine Association Council meeting held in Brussels on Monday.
India could expand a portfolio of generics exported to Ukraine thanks to medications that lost patent protection of innovative drugs, which will become available before 2020, President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (IPMA) Dr. Ramanan Unni Parambath Menon has told Interfax-Ukraine. “Exports of Indian pharmaceutical products will grow, and the portfolio of generic products that can be supplied to Ukraine will expand, since by 2020 branded drugs worth about $55 billion will lose patent protection,” he said on the sidelines of the annual business seminar “India – Global force in pharmaceutics – Reliable partner for Ukraine” held late November in Kyiv.
He said that at present, retail and hospital sales of Indian medicines account for more than UAH 2.633 billion per year, including UAH 334.3 million in the hospital segment. The share of branded generic production of Indian pharmaceutical companies is 59.4% of this segment. According to Dr. Menon, “generic products are market drivers.” “The share of generic drugs is growing in monetary terms and in kind. Products of Indian companies are more branded generics,” he said.
Currently, the top 10 Indian pharmaceutical companies on the Ukrainian market include five IPMA member companies – Dr. Reddys, Abryl Formulations, Organosyn Life Sciences, SUN Pharma, Macleods Pharmaceuticals; and two IPMA member companies are in the top 20 – Aurobindo Pharma and Hetero Labs.
In total, 365 Indian brands are currently represented in the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market.
The IPMA predicts that by the end of 2018, sales of Indian medicines in Ukraine will grow by 22.7% in hryvnias or 19.9% in U.S. dollars compared with 2017. At the same time, sales of Indian drugs in kind will increase by 2.5%.
The growth in sales of Indian pharmaceutical products in 2019 in monetary terms could be 18.1% in hryvnias or 9.5% in U.S. dollars, while maintaining the total supply volumes.
Uzbekistan from December 17 fully resumed customs clearance of goods of Ukrainian origin, including confectionary products, the Ukrkondprom association has reported. According to the association, manufacturers traditionally export the largest amount of confectionary during the New Year and Christmas holidays, so the lack of access to the Uzbek market during this period would cause significant damage to Ukrainian exporters.
As reported, Uzbekistan in the middle of November 2018 suspended customs clearance of goods from Ukraine without official explanation of the reasons. On November 11, the Ukrtsukor association of sugar manufacturers announced a gradual customs clearance of goods of Ukrainian origin.
The Dutch Development Bank FMO will issue $10 million to Nibulon (Mykolaiv), one of the largest Ukrainian grain traders, for the development of river logistics capacities, according to the FMO’s website. “The project will support Nibulon’s strategy, mainly aimed at expanding and optimizing its river grain logistic capacities in order to increase grain trade, reduce the share of road and rail traffic,” the report says.
According to its data, the project will also allow Nibulon to increase export capacity by improving logistics and infrastructure. As reported, Nibulon plans in the next two years to reorient virtually all of its cargoes to Dnipro and transport 4 million tonnes of products per year by water, which will allow reducing the load on the roads.
Nibulon LLC was established in 1991. It is one of the largest operators in the grain market of the country.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed with the Ukrainian Government on a series of new financing operations, in particular, the sides signed an agreement on lending EUR 50 million to finance transport infrastructure improvements throughout the country and a grant of EUR 10 million to finance the implementation of the Ukraine Higher Education Project, the bank has said in a press release. “The projects signed today will result in faster and safer transport infrastructure, better academic facilities and more resources for higher education programmes, all of which will strengthen the country’s competitiveness,” the press service of the bank reported, citing EIB Vice-President Vazil Hudák.
The EUR 50 million EIB loan to improve connectivity in Ukraine and in the Eastern Neighbourhood provides support for transport projects expected to have significant positive local impacts. Road safety, connectivity, and traffic management and control projects are under consideration, with a view to contributing to the economic development of Ukraine.
The project’s first phase will focus on the development of intelligent transport system on national roads, the construction of a missing section of the northern by-pass around the city of Ternopil forming part of the extended TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks), and a number of multi-level railway crossings.
Furthermore, the project will support the development of future investment in railway connections between the European Union and Ukraine.
“The project is backed by a EUR 14 million EU grant for the Ternopil bypass investment and a EUR 1.85 million EU grant for project preparation and implementation. Both grants are being provided under the Neighbourhood Investment Platform (NIP),” the bank said.
Ukraine and the EIB also signed the EUR 10 million grant agreement under the multi-donor E5P fund that supports municipal investments in energy-efficiency and environmental projects in the Eastern Partnership countries.
“The grant will help finance the implementation of a Ukraine Higher Education Project, which the EIB is already supporting. Furthermore, the EIB concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science for the preparation of a project to create several centres of excellence in the country,” the bank said.
The Ukraine Higher Education Project has already received a EUR 120 million loan from the EIB and EUR 30 million from Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), the EIB said.
The grant will be used to finance, in particular, seven universities in the cities of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Sumy and Vinnitsa in order to significantly reduce the energy consumption of their buildings with positive environmental impacts.
The project is also supported by a EUR 3 million EU grant from the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) to assist implementation arrangements, the bank said.
According to the report, the agreements were signed at the EU-Ukraine Association Council meeting held in Brussels on Monday.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
