The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 2017 invested EUR 800 million in Ukraine, which is 37% more than a year ago, EBRD Director in Ukraine Sevki Acuner has said.
“This is a significant rise since 2016 and a strong start for 2018. We hope to reach the indicators of 2014 and 2015, when investments exceeded EUR 1 billion,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the banker, the volume of investments in 2018 will depend on several reasons, including the privatization process.
“I think that in this context the law on privatization, passed in parliament last week, will allow attracting more large foreign investors,” Acuner stressed.
Earlier, the EBRD director in Ukraine expressed opinion that the bank’s investments in the implementation of Ukrainian projects in 2017 could reach EUR 1 billion.
As reported, in 2017 Ukraine became the third largest recipient of EBRD loans following Turkey, which received EUR 1.54 billion in loans, as well as Egypt with EUR 1.41 billion loans.
Kyiv Metropoliten has announced a tender for the construction of a section of the Syretsko-Pecherska metro line from the Syrets station to the Vynohradar residential area.
According to the announcement in the ProZorro system, it is planned to build a section with an electric depot in Podilsky district (from the Syrets station to the Prospekt Pravdy station with the two stations of Mostytska, Prospekt Pravdy) and a section towards the Vynohradar station (the first stage of construction).
Documents for participation in the tender are accepted until February 19, 2018. The auction starts at 13:16 on March 7.
The amount of tender security, as well as an increment, is UAH 31.6 million. The plan is to perform the work for a year and a half.
In 2017 some 498.4 million passengers used the services of Kyiv Metropoliten, which is 2.8% more than a year ago.
Kyiv intends to resume membership in the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), which currently comprises 158 countries.
The director of the Tourism Development Center, Volodymyr Tsaruk, told Interfax-Ukraine this topic was discussed at a meeting of UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili with the head of the tourism and promotions department of Kyiv City State Administration, Anton Taranenko, during the 38th International Tourism Exhibition FITUR (Spain).
“The capital of Ukraine, when obtains membership, will be able to organize one of the international events with the support of UNWTO in its territory and participate in international conferences and congresses under the auspices of this tourist organization,” Taranenko said.
During the 38th International Tourism Exhibition FITUR, held in Madrid, Spain, on January 17-21, Kyiv presented its tourist opportunities, as well as the most important sport event in the world of European football – the Champions League final, which will be held at the Olympiysky stadium in Kyiv on May 28.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the leading international organization in the field of tourism, engaged in the development of sustainable and generally accessible tourism. Its supreme governing body is the General Assembly, which meets every two years.
One of the important priorities of reforms in Ukraine should be attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI), as their amount is not enough for provision of potential economic growth of GDP of 6-7% a year, Head of the Group of Strategic Advisors for Support of Reforms in Ukraine Ivan Miklos has said.
“One of the most important priorities should be to bring more FDI… Today, for example, direct investment as their share of gross domestic product in Ukraine is around 15%. To have this growth (6-7% a year), and this is not a theory, this is the experience other countries, the share of investment should be around 25% of GDP,” Miklos said on Channel 5 TV late on Friday, January 19.
He said that in 2017, FDI to Ukraine totaled $2 billion.
“This is too small for the Ukrainian economy… There are three main sources of investment: public finances… loans… and the most important source of investment is FDI. This is linked to the rule of law, privatization,” Miklos said.
He said that in 2017, the economic growth in Ukraine was less than 2.5% of GDP.
“This year we expect 3.5%. This means that there is some growth, but it is not enough: I think that Ukraine has a potential to have economic growth of around 6%, maybe 7%,” he said.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze has said she believes that the year 2018 is the most important year for European integration of Ukraine.
“I consider this year to be the most important year for Ukraine’s European integration. Tangible victories have already been achieved. It is hardly possible to expect a new step from the EU, like a visa-free regime – it is simply not envisaged by European policy. European integration in 2018 will be ‘quiet,’ barely visible and incomprehensible to the general public, but not less important to the future of the country,” she wrote in an article for Ukraine’s Mirror Weekly published on Saturday, January 20.
Among the tasks of Ukraine for the current year, Klympush-Tsintsadze named the approval of a government-parliamentary roadmap for the implementation of the Association Agreement.
“In addition, this year, the relevant bilateral bodies of association should approve roadmaps on harmonizing legislation in such areas as public procurement, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, financial, postal and courier services, maritime international transportation,” she added.
In addition, she said, in 2018 Ukraine has every chance of actively integrating into the EU’s digital market.
Klympush-Tsintsadze also considers it necessary to adopt a number of legislative acts on inland waterway, rail and road transport and the security of passenger transportation, as well as the transportation of dangerous goods.
“We must carry out domestic legislative work in order to join the EU Convention on a Common Transition Procedure and the Convention on the Simplification of Formalities in Trade in Goods,” the article reads.
Klympush-Tsintsadze said that important tasks for this year also included the launch of an updated system of state food safety control, the adoption of bills on labeling and information for consumers and the establishment of requirements for packaging for food.
Among other things, in her opinion, it is necessary to improve the legislation in the sphere of public health, energy efficiency, and ecology.
The construction of the Cyclone-4M launch vehicle as part of a commercial project of the space sector companies of Canada, the United States and Ukraine in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia could begin in May, CEO of Canada’s Maritime Launch Services (MLS) Steve Matier has said.
While estimating the progress of the project in an interview with Canada’s SpaceQ, Matier said that in February the company plans to complete the work on exploring the area for the spaceport in the province of Nova Scotia so that the construction of the launch complex could begin in the spring of 2018. Collected data, Matier said, will be transferred to the local Canadian authorities for granting a construction permit.
“If that goes okay and they come out of that 50-day review cycle, I mean, there are three options. Obviously there is a reject, there is an accept, there is an accept with provisos,” he said, adding that in the event of a positive decision, after the procedure for renting a land plot, construction work might begin in May.
“If everything goes okay we can hit a May 1st ground-breaking,” Matier said.
When asked about the progress of cooperation on the project with the Ukrainian side in the development of the Cyclone-4M carrier rocket, he recalled that the Cyclone-4M launch vehicle is being created on the basis of the previous Cyclone-4M project.
“This is a medium class rocket, so we’ve got on the shelf a ready to go design for handling the medium class rocket, and we’ll use a Zenit second stage proven hardy engine that’s flown 60-something times, a hundred percent successful, into the overall structure for the Cyclone-4M,” he said, adding that it is planned to begin the assembly of the Cyclone-4M launch vehicle “after we get through this design, review, and integration process.”
Speaking about the plans for the launch program of the project, Matier said: “At this point, we are looking at the summer of 2020 for a first launch. There is a great deal of work obviously we need to do to get there with a solid 18-months of site construction and another six-months of commissioning.”
“That’s why we are looking at a May 1st and what can follow from that for getting to a July 2020 launch date,” he said, adding that there are some potential customers that are interested in the first launch.
At the same time, Matier noted that the plans of the launch program depended on the Ukrainian partner – the Pivdenne (Yuzhnoye) Design Bureau (Dnipro).
“The potential from just the Yuzhnoye, Yuzhmash direction is they have a production schedule that they have shared with us that can deliver a launch vehicle every 29 days or so. So conceivably we could launch 11 to 12 rockets out of there. From investor perspective, return on investment perspective, we are extremely comfortable with making our, you know, customers and clients happy with eight launches per year,” he said.
“We have certainly seen an interest in the market out there that would be able to fill that manifest,” he added, noting that “there is a potential for other launch vehicles to join into this process, and including sub-orbital sounding rockets.”
Matier also confirmed that there was a preliminary agreement with potential customers for the project to pay about 400 million Canadian dollars for future launch services. He did not voice their names, specifying only that “there are a couple that are very close to crossing the line with respect to Canada, but the other ones are international.”
He said that the company was already completing the so-called “seed funding and bridge funding” stage of project investment.
“So it’s looking extremely positive for us from that financial perspective,” he said.
Explaining the optimism about the good prospects of the project, Matier said: “This project is a one hundred percent commercial project. That’s probably the key piece to it…. The reality is as a commercial project we are under finalizing direct contracts with Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash as suppliers to us. This is exactly the way it is operating very well for Orbital ATK with the Antares first stage.”
He said that the Cyclone-4M launch vehicle project was considered a priority in bilateral Ukrainian-Canadian cooperation in the space sector as the legal basis for this partnership is fixed in a memorandum signed by the space agencies of the countries in Ottawa at the end of 2017.
“Some of the conversations that we’ve had dealing with some government entities do involve them potentially buying the services and, you know, getting some payload space for themselves and their missions. That is certainly the case,” Matier said.
“We have selected a construction management company for this project, and it’s Lindsay Construction, the largest construction firm in Atlantic Canada,” he said.
