Trade between Ukraine and India in 2017 grew by 18.8%, reaching $2.8 billion, Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Mr. Manoj Kumar Bharti said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday. “Here two important moments should be pointed out. India became the fifth country in the volume of the export from Ukraine abroad. In addition, India is the second country with which Ukraine has the surplus in trade. Only Ukraine and Egypt have bigger surplus in trade – $1.75 billion, while between Ukraine and India it is $1.65 billion,” he said.
The ambassador said that these indicators fuel confidence that the growth of trade turnover in 2018-2019 could be 20% and 25%, respectively.
Commenting on trade relations between the countries, he said that India was the first country in terms of export of Ukrainian sunflower oil. Last year India exported $2 billion worth of oil. In addition, in 2017, for the first time, a lot of beans were exported from Ukraine to India.
“Another very important factor is that the largest share of the total number of foreign students in Ukraine last year was made up of Indian students, a figure we reached for the first time in 15 years,” the Indian diplomat said.
So, according to him, today more than 10,800 Indian students are studying in Ukraine, which is 80% more than in 2015.
“I am pleased to say that in almost two years we have increased the number of Indian students from 6,000 to almost 11,000. Taking into account the fact that each Indian student spends about $5,000 a year for education, living and personal expenses, Ukraine already earns $55 million only through the provision of education to Indian students,” he said.
The ambassador said that India plans to increase the number of its citizens studying in Ukrainian universities to 40,000 in the coming years, which in turn will give Ukraine about $200 million a year.
He also said that the inclusion of India in the list of countries, which citizens receive the Ukrainian visa upon their arrival to the airport, had a positive impact on the tourist flow. The number of Indian citizens, who visited Ukraine last year, increased more than 50%, to 29,400 people.
Ukraine in January-March 2018 commissioned new generating facilities on renewable energy sources with a total installed capacity of 159.4 MW, which is 2.4 times more than in the same period in 2017, the press service of the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) has stated. “The objects of wind power plants and solar power stations account for 97% of the installed capacity,” the report says.
According to the commission, the country in the first quarter commissioned wind farms with a capacity of 47.1 MW, solar plants with a total capacity of 99.5 MW, biomass stations with a capacity of 5.1 MW, biogas plants of 6.2 MW, and small hydroelectric plants of 1.5 MW.
Thus, as of March 27 Ukraine had wind power plants with a total installed capacity of 512.2 MW, solar plants of 841.4 MW, biomass stations of 43.8 MW, biogas plants of 40.6 MW, and small hydroelectric plants with a capacity of 96.1 MW. The total installed capacity of renewable energy sources is 1,534 MW (without taking into account the annexed territory of Crimea, where previously facilities with a total capacity of 494.9 MW were launched).
Today the share of renewable energy sources in electricity production in Ukraine is 1.4%, the share in the total cost of electricity is 5.4%.
India hopes that Ukraine will adopt Ayurveda as alternative medicine, Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Manoj Kumar Bharti has said. “This year we added one more goal in relationship between Ukraine and India – cooperation in the field of Ayurveda, in the field of Ayurvedic practices and Ayurvedic medicine,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
According to him, a delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will arrive in Ukraine in April to inform the government of the need to develop a policy for the adoption of Ayurveda as alternative medicine.
In addition, as part of this initiative, the ambassador noted the need to resolve the issue of importing Ayurvedic products into Ukraine as medical products, rather than biologically active additives.
There are currently 12 manufacturers of Ayurvedic products in India that meet the standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). According to Manoj Kumar Bharti, Ayurvedic medicine will help reduce the cost of treatment in Ukraine.
“The result of the popularization of Ayurveda in Ukraine will be saving on treatment. People will receive good Ayurvedic medical treatment for a very reasonable cost,” he said. “At the same time, the government of Ukraine, in particular, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, should be aware of the need to teach Ayurveda in medical universities and universities of alternative medicine so that Ayurvedic practitioners are also brought up in Ukraine,” he said.
In addition, the ambassador stressed that Ayurvedic medicine is recognized by several European countries, as well as by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an alternative to traditional medicine. “Speaking about Europe, I’m not talking about the rest of the world and about Asia. Hungary, Switzerland and Germany also officially adopted Ayurveda as alternative medicine,” he said.
As reported, India intends to support the development and promotion of traditional Indian medicine around the world.
Russia’s Gazprom refuses to abide by final and binding awards of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce regarding gas supply to Ukraine and gas transit via the country, the press service of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy reported after the negotiations with Gazprom held last week. “At that meeting Gazprom made clear that the Russian gas monopoly refuses to resume deliveries to Ukraine as ordered by the Tribunal in the Gas Sales Case concluded in December last year, and refused to confirm that it will pay the 2.6 billion dollars which the Tribunal ordered it to pay in the Gas Transit Case award which was rendered in February,” Naftogaz said.
Both arbitration awards are final and binding on Gazprom, the company said.
Naftogaz said that “Gazprom’s position in the meeting was instead to amend the contracts or to terminate the contracts to reverse the decisions of the Tribunal. Both positions are in direct contravention of and disregard for the decisions in the Arbitral Awards rendered by the Stockholm Tribunal. Naftogaz finds this position unacceptable and has rejected Gazprom’s proposals to this effect.”
The parties agreed to have another round of negotiations in April.
PrJSC Kyivmiskbud holding company (Kyiv), one of the largest developers of Ukraine, in 2017 saw net profit fall by 29% compared to 2016, to UAH 71.231 million. According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission on holding a general shareholders’ meeting on April 26, 2018, its assets increased by 12.6% and amounted to UAH 7.018 billion.
Total debtor indebtedness in 2017 increased by 3.5 times compared to 2016, to UAH 339 million.
Undistributed profit of Kyivmiskbud increased by 2.6% in comparison with the previous year and amounted to UAH 1.512 billion. Short-term liabilities decreased by 1.8%, to UAH 3.748 billion, while long-term liabilities almost doubled to UAH 1.681 billion. The staff of the company in 2017 grew to 693 people from 660 people a year earlier.
Kyivmiskbud was established on the basis of the property of state municipal construction corporation Kyivmiskbud in 1994 by combining in its charter capital of controlling stakes in 28 enterprises and other assets.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has informed the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elzbieta Bienkowska about priorities for the development of the Ukrainian economy. “We are engaged in large-scale restoration of infrastructure, building roads, discussing the possibilities of concession. Our priority is economic growth of 5-7%. We will dynamically move forward,” the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers quoted Groysman as saying at a meeting with the commissioner in Kyiv.
The sides noted that Ukraine and the European Union were intensifying the dialogue in the sphere of industry to speed up economic growth in Ukraine and create opportunities for involving Ukrainian enterprises in the all-European industrial strategy.
“Today’s meeting is of the utmost importance. My government’s goal is to ensure sustainable economic growth. The potential of the industry has broad opportunities. We are working to remove barriers to development and get a new impetus to moving forward in all sectors,” Groysman said.
Bienkowska, in turn, said that Europe appreciated the reform progress in Ukraine.
“We see the reform progress. We see how much effort you are making to make changes. I hope that we will be able to discuss the possibilities of various sectors of the economy, and we are talking about Ukraine becoming part of our overall industrial strategy. We are not just talking about support, but about details and concrete accents of our industrial dialogue,” she said.
According to her, Ukraine has great potential for development, first and foremost, in industry and agriculture.
“This is why we are ready to help fulfill this potential, taking into account, first of all, regulatory decisions. We believe in free trade (with Ukraine), in the free market. We will never run counter to WTO policy and free trade policy,” Bienkowska said.
The sides also discussed cooperation with international financial organizations and macro-financial support for Ukraine from the EU.
“Ukraine is already the best in many respects. Ukraine is really an example for Europe in the context of the restoration of the state. You should be proud of what you have done in the way of reform, and we need to strengthen our ties between enterprises and as part of industrial clusters,” she added.
