KYIV. Aug 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kyivstar mobile operator with the aim of introducing modern technologies into the production processes in agriculture.
According to a report on the ministry’s website, the agreement provides for the creation of conditions for the development of small and medium-sized farmers through the introduction of a digital platform.
“The developed digital platform for agricultural producers will be an effective tool for communications between ministry representatives and the key players of the agricultural sector, as well as for providing consultations and necessary information on government support programs or other information important to producers,” Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food for European Integration Olha Trofimtseva said.
According to her, using modern information tools will help agricultural producers more accurately and qualitatively analyze and forecast their activities.
KYIV. Aug 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in close collaboration with the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine and the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry will draw up a project to adapt agriculture in Ukraine to climate changes.
FAO said in a press release that the project will consider current and projected climate conditions in Ukraine and their impact on agriculture (including forestry and fisheries).
The project will suggest measures for mitigating climate change, and for adapting to it. A series of consultations will be held to ensure transparency and broad input into the development of a plan of action.
“This project is incredibly important for Ukraine today, since the issues of irrigation, deforestation and forest degradation have become critical priorities on the national agroecological agenda,” Coordinator of FAO development programmes in Ukraine Mykhailo Malkov said.
KYIV. Aug 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Double liability company Interchem pharmaceutical company (Odesa) has localized production of three medicines on the basis of Kazakhstan’s Viva Pharm limited liability partnership. The medicines will be presented on the Kazakh market.
Medical Director of Viva Pharm Botagoz Mashkeyeva told Interfax-Ukraine that soon Tilaxine antiviral pills will be made at the production facilities of the Kazakh pharmaceutical plant. It is known as Amixin in Ukraine. The Kazakh plant will also produce Hidazipam VIC antianxiety drug (pills and sublingual tablets) and Morphine sulfate VIC pain reliever (pills).
Mashkeyeva said that at present the companies are working on localization of some more medicines, including several antianxiety drugs, antiepileptic drugs and medicines to treat severe pain syndrome.
She said that the government policy to support local manufacturers is being implemented in Kazakhstan. It says that the transfer of medicine production technologies to Kazakhstan brings more benefits than imports of finished medicines.
“In the past years this triggered development of local pharmaceutical production, allowed creating a large number of highly paid jobs and increased availability and affordability of modern and efficient medicines,” she said.
In turn, Deputy Director General of Interchem for Marketing Iryna Hranatiuk said that along with the transfer of technologies and supplies of substances for production, Ukrainian specialists are participating in pharmaceutical designing of the quality system for all production stages.
“We are cooperating with colleagues from Kazakhstan for many years. The country’s market is dynamically developing and showing stable growth. Taking into account the Kazakhstan’s government policy stimulating local medicine production it was decided to organize production of some popular medicines there. The main thing for us was the issue of retaining the quality of our medicines. We have managed to find a partner to localize production, which, we are sure, would provide for stably high quality of products,” she said.
Interchem is one of the leading Ukrainian producers of medicines and pharmaceutical substances. It is included in the top ten manufacturers of medicines. The share of own production reaches 2% of the total market in the country.
Viva Pharm has been operating on the Kazakh market for 18 years.
KYIV. Aug 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has included Shell Energy Europe Ltd (Britain) in the list of companies that have passed preliminary qualification and have the right to participate in Naftogaz Ukrainy tenders for the purchase of gas for EBRD renewable loan funds in 2017-2018, the press service of Naftogaz has said.
“Shell has provisionally passed preliminary selection,” the report said.
As reported, the preliminary selection procedure will remain open for new participants during the term of the loan.
Earlier 13 companies passed preliminary selection for gas supplies for EBRD loan funds in 2017-2018.
KYIV. Aug 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and Malta are interested in implementation of joint projects in the agricultural sector, especially in logistics, Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Olha Trofimtseva has said.
“Despite the fact that bilateral trade in agriculture between our countries is small, we see a potential in cooperation in the investment area,” the press service of the ministry said, citing Trofimtseva.
She said that the creation of the distribution center could be interesting for some types of agricultural products and food, including processed products exported to African countries.
“It is important for us to approve the concrete business model for operation of this distribution center for Ukrainian food in Malta, taking into account all the economic factors,” she said.
The sides decided to form a technical group to draw up a business model concept for the distribution center, which will be presented in the near term.
KYIV. Aug 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with grain traders to stabilize the grain market and ensure for the predictable exports pace for 2017/18 agricultural year (July-June).
The ministry said on its website that the document contains tools for cooperation of grain market players, exchange of information and monitoring.
The sides decided to cooperate in approval of the balance sheet elements of the Ukrainian grain market, in particular, in calculation of the upper limits of grain exports, provision for food security and non-application of export restrictions.
As reported, the ministry predicts that grain harvest in 2017 will be 60.2-63 million tonnes.
Grain exports in 2016/17 agri-year tentatively totaled 44.441 million tonnes, and this is 4.954 million tonnes more than in the previous season.
