Business news from Ukraine

RADAR TECH WITH UKRSIBBANK LAUNCHES ACCELERATOR

A team of the Radar Tech cluster, which has been organizing the Telecom accelerator project jointly with Kyivstar and which added the accelerator of agrarian investment jointly with MHP to it last autumn, has announced the launch of the similar project for Fintech startups with UkrSibbank.
“We are launching another corporate accelerator! This time it is Fintech!!!” team member Yulia Poroshenko wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday.
According to co-founder of Radar Tech Maksym Bakhmatov, the new accelerator program will start on March 26, 2018. Then the details of the program will be disclosed.
Radar Tech cluster was created by a team of managing partners of Unit.city innovations park Bakhmatov and Maksym Yakover, the co-founder and managing partner of GrowthUP Group Denys Dovhopoly, advisor at McKinsey Poroshenko, telecom expert at BCG Yulia Myronova and Director General of Chasopys creative space Olena Kalibaba.
UkrSibbank was founded in 1990. BNP Paribas S.A (France) owns 60% of the bank’s charter capital, while the EBRD holds 40%.
The bank ranked 7th among 88 operating banks as of October 1, 2017, in terms of total assets worth UAH 42.977 billion, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

PRESIDENT POROSHENKO SUPPORTS HOLDING TAX AMNESTY AFTER DISCUSSION

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that he supports the idea of holding tax amnesty in Ukraine so that Ukrainians could pay the respective tax, bring money into Ukraine and legally invest in the Ukrainian economy.
“I propose that we once again return to the discussion of the so-called ‘zero’ declaration. We cannot say that every Ukrainian is guilty of something. We should give every Ukrainian the opportunity to pay the respective tax, in accordance with the law, bring money into Ukraine, invest it in the Ukrainian economy and feel a free citizen of a free country,” he said at a meeting with business representatives in Kyiv on Monday.
Poroshenko invited those present to join the drafting of a bill on the so-called “zero” declaration.
“I will not submit it now, but if you support this, I propose our joint work in order to protect, first and foremost, small and medium-sized businesses,” he said.

TRANSPORT ENTERPRISES INCREASE PASSENGER TRAFFIC BY 1.6% IN JAN

Transport companies in Ukraine in January 2018 increased passenger transportation by 1.6% compared to January 2017, to 366.7 million people. The State Statistics Service reported passenger turnover for the reporting period increased by 3.2%, to 7.5 billion passenger-kilometers.
Transportation by rail (taking into account transportation by the city electric train) decreased by 2.5%, to 11.5 million people.
Transportation by road in January 2018 fell by 2%, to 162.5 million passengers.
Air transport carried 700,000 passengers (6.5% more).
Transportation of passengers by trams, according to the State Statistics Service, rose by 5.5%, to 52.6 million people, by trolleybuses by 6.3%, to 84 million people, by the underground by 2.9%, to 55.4 million passengers.

UKRAINE INCREASES POULTRY EXPORTS RISE BY 40% IN 2018

Ukraine in January-February exported 44,450 tonnes of poultry, which is 40.1% more than in the same period in 2017, the State Fiscal Service has reported.
According to its data, in monetary terms exports of these products increased by 1.6 times, to $68.87 million.
Imports of poultry and offal products increased by 26.2%, to 20,290 tonnes, in monetary terms by 36.4% and amounted to $8.76 million.
According to the service, exports of pork in January-February compared to the corresponding period in 2017 decreased by 67.8%, to 370 tonnes. Exports of these products amounted to $870,000 against $2.11 million in January-February 2017.
Pork imports to Ukraine during this period increased by 2.2 times, to 990 tonnes. Pork imports totaled $1.59 million compared to $740,000 in January-February 2017.

MOGHERINI: FIRST STEP TOWARDS UKRAINE’S MEMBERSHIP IN EU – IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini believes that the implementation of the provisions of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union should be the first step towards the country’s membership of the EU. “As for Ukraine’s membership in the EU, I think that the first step is to ensure the implementation of the Association Agreement and its provisions on the FTA, and use all its advantages”, Mogherini told Ukrainian students. She added that successful reform in Ukraine included decentralization, pension, education and health reform.
“We are working every day to implement this agreement and the first results have already been produced. For example, Ukraine’s exports to the EU grew by a third compared to the previous year”, Mogherini said. She also said that one of the most important events in bilateral relations was the functioning of the visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU.

MOGHERINI, POROSHENKO DISCUSS UKRAINE-EU SUMMIT SCHEDULED FOR JULY 2018

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that he discussed the agenda of the 20th Ukraine-EU summit scheduled for July 2018 with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini.
“We exchanged views on the substantive content of the next summit. I am grateful to Ms. Mogherini for the powerful support of our proposals, for a fruitful meeting and for another confirmation of the unity of Ukraine and the EU and solidarity,” he said after a meeting with Mogherini in Kyiv on Monday.
He noted that energy issues would also be raised during the summit. “During the next summit, we plan to discuss the sectoral areas of cooperation, the possibility of Ukraine joining the Digital Union and the Energy Union, as well as other forms of cooperation, according to which the relevant work has already begun on the order of the European Commission president,” Poroshenko said.