Ukraine and Germany have reached an agreement on holding a bilateral business forum in Ukraine in the near future, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. “We’ve reached an agreement during the meeting with Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on a strong German governmental delegation, which should visit Ukraine in the near future, to hold a powerful business forum,” Poroshenko said at a joint briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday. The president also specified that Germany is one of the leaders in investing in Ukraine.
“Both the Chancellor and I are satisfied with the growth rates of mutual trade, which has increased by more than 20%,” Poroshenko added.
Ukraine in January-March 2018 exported 169,941 tonnes of nitrogen mineral or chemical fertilizers for $34.238 million, while imported 558,292 tonnes worth $117.265 million. According to the State Fiscal Service, nitrogen fertilizers exports to Turkey amounted to $14.846 million, Mexico to $7.085 million, Romania to $3.983 million, and other countries to $8.325 million. Nitrogen fertilizers in the first quarter of the year were imported from the Russian Federation for $21.929 million, Uzbekistan for $21.929 million, Lithuania for $15.372 million and other countries for $49.1 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January-March of this year exported 1,474 tonnes of ammonia (code 2814) for $433,000, imported 114,906 tonnes for $41.965 million. All the ammonia was imported from the Russian Federation.
As reported, in 2011, Ukraine exported nitrogen fertilizers for $1.69 billion, and imported – for $153.347 million, in 2012 – for $1.695 billion and $163.234 million, in 2013 – for $1.134 billion and $211.822 million, in 2014 – for $647.623 million and $175.747 million, in 2015 – for $521.552 million and $212.931 million, in 2016 – for $321.614 million and $216.095 million, in 2017 – for $ 125.427 million and $337.346 million.
In 2011, Ukraine exported ammonia for $594.942 million, and imported – by $0.006 million, in 2012 – for $640.281 million and $0.026 million, in 2013 – for $628.606 million and $40.412 million, in 2014 – for $314.713 million and $43.518 million, in 2015 – for $251.937 million and $28.676 million, in 2016 – for $40.569 million and $51.802 million, in 2017 – $42.969 million and $123.012 million.
The government of Ukraine plans on April 27, 2018 approve a list of large facilities with assets worth over UAH 250 million for the privatization in 2018, acting Head of the State Property Fund (SPF) Vitaliy Trubarov has said. “At a meeting of the government to be devoted to the privatization scheduled for April 27 we will receive the finished list of large privatization and approve the requirements,” he said. Trubarov recalled that according to the new law on privatization that took effect on March 7, all facilities are divided into two groups: large and small. The fund makes decisions on the lists of small privatization. For this year the fund has approved a list of 660 small facilities.
The SPF head said that the sale of facilities in line with the new law will start after May holidays.
Trubarov also expressed opinion that in the coming five or seven years large Ukrainian companies like Ukrzaliznytsia or Ukrposhta would not be placed to the privatization lists.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) maintains its expectation that Ukraine will attract $2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2018 and predicts the next tranche will be received at the beginning of the third quarter of 2018. “As for the next tranche of a loan, we believe that this will be possible at the beginning of the third quarter. However, this is rather a technical calculation in terms of the progress of negotiations and receipt of consents at the technical level,” Deputy NBU Governor Dmytro Solohub said at a briefing in Kyiv.
According to him, the NBU currently does not have any specific information about the date of the next visit of the IMF mission to Kyiv. At the same time, Solohub reported that the Ukrainian delegation planned to attend the Annual and Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
“The traditional spring meetings of the IMF will be held at the end of next week, and the Ukrainian delegation will be present at them. These are not only negotiations with the [IMF] mission to discuss the [EFF] program, these are also meetings with other international organizations,” he said.
Prime Minister of Lithuania Saulius Skvernelis believes that Ukraine needs a high speed in carrying out reforms. He noted that old Europe, the old democracy “had decades to make changes in its countries.” And the new states, such as Lithuania, had to reform for 10 or less years and made changes quite quickly, he said in the framework of the panel discussion “Regional Cooperation: United by Common Goals” at the 11th Kyiv Security Forum on Thursday. “No matter how hard it is for you to hear this, but you must be faster, faster than we are,” the prime minister said.
The European Commission jointly with European alcohol producers intend to publish the Counterfeit and Piracy watch-list for Ukraine with the purpose of comabting counterfeit alcohol sale in the EU partner countries. The Ukrvodka association said in a press release that the European initiative is aimed at revealing online and private marketplaces that allow producing and selling counterfeit and smuggled goods in the countries, which are not members of the European Union.
“The Ukrainian illegal alcohol market reaches 60% and withdraws about EUR 360 million from the budget. The European Commission plans to officially publish the Counterfeit and Piracy watch-list this year and update it regularly,” the association said.
According to the European Commission, the illegal market is a “concrete scourge for the economy,” it hinders investment and employment in the sectors related to the production of alcohol.
According to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), about 5% of EU imports worth EUR 85 billion annually are unsafe counterfeit goods, mainly from neighboring countries.
According to the report, the attention of Europeans was attracted by the investigation of the Ukrainian anti-corruption human rights organization. According to their data, half of the state-owned distilleries produce illegal alcohol, and illegal vodka is also produced at distilleries: 10 out of 30 distilleries produce counterfeit goods.
