Business news from Ukraine

REZIDOR HOTEL GROUP TO OPEN RADISSON BLU HOTEL IN ODESA

KYIV. June 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Rezidor Hotel Group, the world operator of hotel business with a head office in Brussels, intends to build a Radisson Blu hotel in Odesa, an informed source has told Interfax-Ukraine.
This was stated by Radisson Blu Regional Director for Ukraine and Georgia Claude Bulte at a closed event in Kyiv on June 12.
According to Bulte, the Radisson Blu hotel will be built on the site of the Seamen’s Palace in Prymorsky Boulevard in the eponymous district of Odesa. All formalities regarding the purchase of the corresponding land plot have already been completed.
At the same time, Rezidor Hotel Group neither confirmed nor denied the information, citing the fact the negotiation process is ongoing. The agency has so far failed to receive comments from Bulte.
According to the Radisson Blu website, on June 14, 2017 the network in Ukraine was represented by three hotels, two of which in Kyiv and one in Bukovel (Polianytsia village, Ivano-Frankivsk region).
Rezidor Hotel Group is part of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which in 115 countries manages and develops more than 1,440 hotels under the brands of Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson Red, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson.

JAPAN STARTS TO WORK ON CANCELLING VISAS FOR UKRAINIANS

KYIV, June 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Japan’s government has started working on cancelling visas for Ukrainian citizens, MP Leonid Yemets of the People’s Front faction reported.
“We’ve scheduled a diplomatic trip of a delegation of the Ukraine-Japan inter-parliamentary group for the day of the launch of the visa-free regime [with the EU] with a specific goal of extending the list of countries with the visa-free regime to include the friendly Japan… The Cabinet of Ministers of Japan has started to work on the issue of cancelling visas for Ukrainians. The parliaments promised to assist in every possible way,” Yemets wrote on Facebook.
He said it was too early to talk about a specific timeframe, but they were working so that Ukrainians could visit the 2020 Tokyo Olympics without visas.

Canadian divisions of global retailers got interested in selling Ukrainian goods

Considering CUFTA will come into force in summer 2017, Canadian divisions of global retailers – Walmart, Sobeys, Metro, Farm Boy, Loblaw, – expressed interest in sourcing Ukrainian goods.As follow-up to negotiations with Canadian retailers in Toronto on May 30-31, Export Promotion Center at ULIE has started search for appropriate suppliers.
Canadian divisions of global retailers – Walmart, Sobeys, Metro, Farm Boy, Loblaw and etc. – got interested in sourcing Ukrainian goods to the supermarket shelves in Canada. The point concerning demand for supply of Ukrainian foods and consumer goods was agreed between representative of ULIE and retailers’ buyers at Store 2017 – the famous conference of local retailers – on May 30-31, Toronto.
As a result of negotiations, the research campaign for Ukrainian producer, ready for exporting to Canadian supermarkets, was started. It was announced by Mr. Denys Krasnikov, Vice President at the ULIE and coordinator of Export Promotion Center at the ULIE.
According to Denys Krasnikov, the Canadian chains are interested in suppling Ukrainian honey, sunflower oil, walnuts, canned vegetables, garlic, tomato paste, macaroni products, canned peas and other pulses, textile and cosmetics. Ukrainian goods will be sold under private label brand of Canadian retailers that won’t require any considerable expenses for marketing.
Mr. Denys Krasnikov also noted the fruitful negotiations with IKEA-Canada concerning furniture products and its sales on the biggest online sites. The representatives of this famous furniture brand highly estimated quality of Ukrainian furniture and expressed readiness to order Ukrainian furniture on private label basis.
Through negotiations with President of Staples Canada, the potential cooperation with Ukrainian producers of stationery was discussed.
The point about elimination of Ukraine-Canada export barriers was also debated at the common meeting, involving Mr. Denys Krasnikov, Vice President at the ULIE and coordinator of Export Promotion Center at the ULIE, Diane J. Brisebois, President & CEO at Retail Council of Canada David Wilkes, Senior Vice President of Government relations and grocery division. Principally this point is foreseen to occur in relation to CUFTA that will come into force in summer 2017.
DOSSIER
The Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) is the largest association of industrial companies and manufacturers of Ukraine of all forms and types. The league has 28 regional offices; more than 100 specialized associations are among its´ partners. The ULIE is represented at the headquarter of Business Europe in Brussels, as well as in other countries.
The Export Promotion Center was created like a structure division of the ULIE with the aim of uniting and supporting domestic producers as also promoting export infrastructure of Ukraine (http://www.uspp-export.com/ua/).

NESTLE UKRAINE EXPORTING CHOCOLATE BARS TO BRAZIL SINCE 2017

KYIV. June 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Nestle Ukraine in 2017 started exporting chocolate bars under the Lion brand to Brazil, Exports and Imports Director at Nestle in Ukraine Volodymyr Spivak said at a press conference in Lviv on Monday.
“We produce products under the Lion brand for Nestle in Brazil at Svitoch factory. We have several projects with other countries to be launched soon. These are three or four countries, including European ones,” he said.
Spivak said that chocolate bars under the Boci brand are also made at Svitoch confectionary factory.
“Most of bars are similar to Svitoch chocolate. The bars are made under the local brand Boci. This year we will be the main manufacturer for Hungary. The Svitoch confectionary factory has been selling Boci to Hungary since 2016. We have arranged the expansion of the range of products and items,” he said.
He said that Nestle Ukraine mainly exports quick cooking noodles, and over 50% of it made in Ukraine is exported.
“Ukrainian consumers know it under the Mivina brand. Similar products are sold in over 20 countries. Our factory in Kharkiv makes products under the Maggi brand for other Nestle markets,” Spivak said.
Nestle Ukraine also exports its products under the Winiary brand.
“We make it in Ukraine, and Nestle Poland sells red sauces under the Winiary brand. As for total production the share of exports is small,” he said.
Switzerland’s Nestlе started operating in Ukraine in 1994 when it opened a representative office. The company markets the following international brands: NESCAFÉ, Nesquik, Nuts, Friskies, KitKat, and others.

DEVISION TO BUILD RESORT TOWN ON 400 HA NEAR KONCHA-ZASPA

KYIV. June 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – DeVision (Kyiv) plans in 2018 to begin building a resort town with designed for the population of 30,000-40,000 people on 400 hectares near Koncha-Zaspa.
“The place is unique, there are many canals, a lot of water. If to plan it correctly, it could be a small Venice in Ukraine. According to the concept, 30% of the territory will be occupies with common areas, lakes, parks, an embankment, a recreation area, they will be public. We plan to set a new format of housing in this town,” DeVision Group operational director Oleh Ponomarev said at a press conference.
According to him, within the framework of the project it is planned to build two hotels in the Spa & Resort format.
“Today Kyiv lacks zones where you can relax during weekends, spend time outdoors. We believe that we can create such a city with hospitals, a weekend resort. This project also includes two hotels which will be operated by DBI Hotels & Resorts,” he said.
DeVision CEO Hennadiy Zhukov said the company plans by the end of 2017 to approve the final concept of the project and in 2018 to begin the implementation of the first stage of the project on up to 50 hectares.
“It will be a full-fledged closed residential area with different housing formats and price segments. The maximum height will be seven floors. The maximum number of residents for this format of city will be determined. Currently we are talking about 1-1.5 million square meters of housing,” Zhukov said.

OVER 2,900 UKRAINIANS ENTER EU WITHOUT VISAS IN THREE DAYS – STATE BORDER SERVICE

KYIV. June 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – As of Tuesday morning, 2,910 Ukrainian citizens have used the visa-free regime with Europe, spokesman of the State Border Service of Ukraine Oleh Slobodian said.
“As of 06:00 on June 13, some 2,910 of our compatriots crossed Ukraine’s border to the EU countries within the framework of the visa-free travel. These are holders of biometric passports, 70% of them crossed the border in the western sector at automobile checkpoints, 7% at railway checkpoints, 23% used airports,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday morning.
Slobodian noted that there were six cases of refusal to let a person across the border. Four of them were connected with the violation of the migration legislation of an EU country during their previous stay and two with the non-confirmation of the purpose of their stay.
“Two of our compatriots were returned by the services of Italy, since they could not confirm the proper level of financial security and did not have return tickets,” he explained.