The International Labour Organization (ILO) is launching a large-scale project in Ukraine designed to help to improve the business climate in the country and make social dialogue more effective. Partners thus rely on cooperation with national employers’ organizations that are representative, have information resources at their disposal, maintain contacts and work with government agencies and others. This was discussed at a meeting of Chairman of the Association of Employers Organizations of Ukraine (OORU), First Deputy Chairman of the Joint Representative Body of Employers, President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Anatoliy Kinakh with representatives of the International Labor Office, Christian Hess (Geneva) and Dragan Radic (Budapest).
Anatoliy Kinakh informed the counterparts that Ukraine is currently seeing a greater role of social dialogue and employers’ stronger influence. Now, employers in Ukraine have a common voice and a consistent position, which is extremely important in the context of dialogue with the government and other social partners in addressing key economic challenges.
“Our country is facing a demographic crisis now : last year it became one of the top four countries with the highest mortality rate, its population has been aging at a significant pace: there are 11 retirees per 10 employees. Another problem is labor and business migration. Up to one million Ukrainians work in neighboring Poland alone, they include highly qualified personnel,” the OORU’s head said.
According to him, employers, industrialists and businessmen planned a meeting of the National Tripartite Social and Economic Council with the government in late May to discuss ways to solve these problems.
Christian Hess said, in turn, that the ILO expects national employers will demonstrate the high level of partnership and it will work closely with them to implement the future project. This project is supposed to become a certain contribution to solving the above mentioned problems in the labor sphere of Ukraine. The project will be funded by the government of Denmark and is designed for five years. Around EUR 10 million in total is expected to be allocated for this purpose.
KYIV. June 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia intends in 2017 to raise tariffs for freight transportation by 22.5%, the company said in a press release, with reference to the draft consolidated financial plan posted on its website.
According to the press service, the figures are calculated using international financial reporting standards.
“Tariffs for passenger rail transportation will not be raised this year, while those for cargo transportation within Ukraine from June will rise by 22.5%. Such steps will allow us to make the largest capital investments in the whole history of railway transport – UAH 22.7 billion. Most of the funds will be used to solve the most acute problem – the renewal of rolling stock,” the report said.
According to company head Wojciech Balczun, the implementation of Ukrzaliznytsia’s capital investments plans will provide jobs at production facilities in Ukraine and will contribute to the overall revival of the domestic economy.
“If the indexation of tariffs does not occur, PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia will have to curtail its capital investment programs, which will lead to negative consequences for Ukraine as a whole,” he said.
KYIV. June 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has cancelled the registration of foreign investment and simplified the procedure for issuing permission to employ foreigners, as well as the procedure for issuing temporary residence permits.
Some 239 deputies voted in favor of the draft law in its second reading on Tuesday.
The bill cancels registration of foreign investment, replacing it with formal notification for state statistics purposes.
It also spells out the basic aspects of applying for permission to hire foreigners and persons without Ukrainian citizenship. The changes are expected to simplify procedures for attracting foreign managers and qualified foreign workers, who are necessary during the first stages of setting up subsidiary operations in Ukraine.
In addition, the adopted bill changes procedures for issuing temporary residence permits, giving foreigner investors the right to reside in Ukraine, as well as foreigners working at (and not necessarily for) Ukrainian enterprises. Deputies expect the new law will make it easier to reside in Ukraine while monitoring enterprise activities.
According to Samopomich Party faction deputy Serhiy Kiral, the legislation applies specifically to four categories of highly-paid IT specialists – graduates of the world’s top 110 universities, as well as artists. According to Kiral, there are currently 9,000 such [foreign] employees in Ukraine today.
Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction deputy Viktor Pynzenyk said the current law obliges foreign employees to receive work permits each year.
‘The [new] law provides permission for three years, and ensures that low-qualified workers are not hired. The law also establishes minimum salary requirements,” he said.
Pynzenyk said the new law would not revolutionize the country’s investment climate, but should be viewed as a small step on the path to creating a more favorable climate for foreign investment in Ukraine.
KYIV. June 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Swedish furniture and home goods chain IKEA could enter the Ukrainian market, the head of PrJSC Mandarin Plaza’s board, Oleksandr Chernytsky, has said.
According to him, IKEA is considering the possibility of becoming a tenant in one of the country’s largest sales and amusement centers, Yuzhny, with an area of 450,000 square meters. Construction of the facility is planned to begin at the end of 2017 at 9 Hlushkova Street in Kyiv’s Holosiyivsky district.
“IKEA is also looking in our direction. The probability they will come here is high,” Chernytsky said, adding that renters of space at the trade center will include other well-known international operators, “whom Ukraine has long been waiting for,” he said.
Businessman Vahif Aliev, according to Chernytsky, has purchased rights to a land plot with the Liodovy [Ice Skating Rink] Stadium at 9 Hlushkova Street in Holosiyivsky district for construction of Ukraine’s largest shopping mall and sports complex.
The Liodovy Stadium, which was Ukraine’s first outdoor sports complex with skating tracks, was built in 1975.
Aliev is an investor and owner in a number of Kyiv shopping malls, such as Lavina Mall, Blockbuster Mall and Ocean Mall.
PrJSC Mandarin Plaza was created in 2000. It develops, builds and manages shopping and office complexes.
According to the national state register, the sole stakeholder of the enterprise is limited stock company Stadis AB (100% Malmo, Sweden). Aliev is listed as the ultimate beneficiary.
Mandarin Plaza’s charter capital as of May 29, 2017, was UAH 21.7 million.
KYIV. June 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The market of soft drinks (mineral water, sweet carbonated water, cold tea and energy drinks) in Ukraine from April 2016 to March 2017 had grown by 4.7% in liters and by 15.25% in monetary terms.
According to marketing research by Nielsen, a year earlier sales in the category of non-alcoholic beverages increased by 26.17% in monetary terms, while the fall in natural terms amounted to 4.16%.
The main reason for the positive dynamics of soft drinks sales was a slowdown in the growth of prices in the Ukrainian market compared to last year. The increase in prices was 10.08% per liter in 2017 against 31.65% a year earlier.
According to Nielsen, the category of energy drinks became the leader in growth among all non-alcoholic beverages, which increased sales by 16.9% due to developing inexpensive brands. In the category of energy and sweet carbonated beverages, sales of private brands in liters increased by 22% and 32.8%, respectively.
At the same time, the share of mineral water sales fell by 8.5%, cold tea by 6.5%.
Nielsen also noted changes in trade channels – sales are growing in supermarkets, hypermarkets, minimarkets, while traditional retail channels are falling both in natural and monetary terms.
LVIV. June 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The French firm Egis has proposed building an incineration plant for Lviv in the territory of combined heat and power plant No. 2 (CHPP-2), the manager of the project for the development of a waste treatment strategy for Lviv, Christopher Round, has said.
“We examined three sites and came to the conclusion that the best option would be a site in the territory of CHPP-2,” Round said at a press conference, explaining that the location and the developed infrastructure played in favor of this site.
According to him, the company plans in August this year to start designing the enterprise. During this time it will also study Lviv waste morphology to determine the best technology for waste treatment. It is expected that the implementation of the project will begin in 2018.
At the same time, Deputy Mayor of Lviv Serhiy Babak added the final decision on the technology will be made after studying waste morphology and the estimated cost of the plant.
As for the reclamation of the former waste landfill of Lviv, French experts plan to start its recultivation in the current year.
As reported, Lviv City Council and Egis signed a memorandum of cooperation to develop a waste treatment strategy for Lviv.
