KYIV. Sept 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The share of the European Union (EU) of Ukraine’s foreign trade has reached 40%, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.
“Recently the [Ukraine-EU] Association Agreement took effect. Thanks to consent of the European Union the year before last to temporarily apply it we can enjoy the preliminary results as growth of our export to the European Union. In particular, in H1 2017, this export grew by 23%, and the EU’s share of Ukraine’s foreign trade has finally reached 40%,” the president said delivering the annual message to the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday.
He also recalled that in 2012, the EU’s share of Ukraine’s foreign trade was 30%, and in 2009 – 25%.
“This is evidence of the start of the integration of the Ukrainian economy into the EU market,” he said.
KYIV. Sept 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a project on construction of a passenger terminal and servicing facilities of municipal enterprise Zaporizhia International Airport.
The decision is stipulated in a government resolution passed at the meeting on August 6.
The land parcel where the terminal will be built will be 33.1 ha and the construction site will be 6,657 square meters.
It is planned that the capacity of the terminal will be 400 passengers per hour, including 250 passengers of the international flight sector and 150 passengers of the domestic flights sector. This will be a three-story building. A gas boiler, a pump station and a transformer substation will be also built.
The total estimated cost of the project in the prices as of May 22, 2017 is UAH 543.159 million, including UAH 207.214 million for construction cost, UAH 234.944 million for equipment, furniture and tools and UAH 101 million for other expenses.
It will take two years to build the terminal.
KYIV. Sept 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine should begin preparations for the future introduction of the 5G mobile communications standard and follow Europe to release the 700 MHz band from television broadcasting, Volodymyr Korsun, the director of state enterprise Ukrainian State Center of Radio Frequencies, has said.
“The range to be used for 5G introduction is 700 MHz. This range is almost released from television broadcasting in Europe. We need to move in this direction, and the Ukrainian State Center of Radio Frequencies does everything possible for this,” he said in an interview with the Novoye Vremia (New Time) edition.
Korsun specified this process has been launched in Ukraine, but it will move “a little bit slower” than in Europe.
The expert said the launch of the 5G standard is expected at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019, which should determine the frequency range for this standard.
Commenting on the deployment of 3G communications, Korsun noted over two years this standard has been launched in all the regional centers, while operators, according to licenses, have time until 2021 to cover settlements with the population exceeding 10,0000 people.
KYIV. Sept 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Winner of the HackIT 2017 international cyber forum to be held on September 23 in Kharkiv will be involved in participation in the project of the Ukroboronprom State concern on the creation of the cyber security center in Ukraine meeting NATO standards, the press service of the concern has reported.
According to a posting on its website, the Cyber Guard project initiated by Ukroboronprom’s State Enterprise Ukrinmash will be the general partner of the HackIT 2017 forum.
The key events of the year, the latest cyber weapons, cyber espionage techniques and cyber security threat prevention will be the main issues during discussion section.
Around 1,000 participants from 10 countries will take part in the forum.
“Ukrinmash along with other participants is preparing a detailed presentation, in particular on cyber defense mechanisms in public and financial sectors, IT-business and other industries,” the concern said.
KYIV. Sept 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – World Bank Country Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Satu Kahkonen has said that the automated indexation of pensions in Ukraine should be introduced from 2018 and not from 2021 as it is outlined in the existing bill on pension reform proposed by the Ukrainian government to the Verkhovna Rada.
She said that the pension indexation envisaged in the bill should apply to 2019 and 2010, not only from 2021. This is important for transparency and stability of pension payments and for avoiding the reduction of pensions, she said at a round table in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Kahkonen said that one of the goals of the reform is the creation of a system based on rules, not on a biased decision of the government machine.
She said that the goal would not be reached if the indexation in 2019 and 2020 is left to the discretion of authorities.
She believes that the vagueness with the pension indexation in 2019 and 2019 could shatter confidence of citizens to the pension reform and this must be avoided.
As reported, the government’s bill on pension reform says that in 2019-2020 the pensions will be indexed under a separate decision of the government.
KYIV. Sept 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ovostar Union, a leading shell egg producer in Ukraine, has received a permission to export the shell eggs of class A (table eggs) to the European Union effective from September 12, 2017
According to a report on the company’s website, the company is planning to start first deliveries in October 2017.
According to the EU materials, the subsidiary of Ovostar LLC Yasensvit (Stavysche, Kyiv region) sent the request at the end of July 2017.
Earlier the EU issued only permits to import egg products from Ukraine: the largest Ukrainian market players – Imperovo Foods from Avangard Holding and Ovostar – sent the relevant requests in summer 2014.
