Business news from Ukraine

CHINA’S XINWEI TO INSTALL 2,300 BASE STATIONS FOR HIGH-SPEED INTERNET IN UKRAINE BY 2018 – KUBIV

KYIV. May 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Chinese telecommunications company Xinwei Group plans by 2018 to install 2,300 base stations providing high-speed Internet coverage throughout Ukraine.
“Xinwei has installed 150 base stations providing high-speed Internet coverage in Kyiv region since 2016. The company plans by 2018 to install another 2,300 base stations throughout Ukraine,” First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv wrote on his Facebook page.
According to the website of Xinwei Group in Ukraine, the company together with the Ukrainian telecommunications operator Prosat is implementing a project to create a network of mobile broadband multimedia communications of national scale.
As reported, in September 2014 PJSC Datagroup agreed with Xinwei Corporation on attracting investments in the development of projects in the field of telecommunications and high technologies, including 4G standard use.
The international Chinese company Xinwei Group is one of the world’s leaders in the field of communications. The company’s technologies are used in the field of security, aerospace communications, oil production, electricity, water management, transport and others.
The Kyiv office of Xinwei was opened in 2014.

MOTOR SICH, CHINA’S SKYRIZON COULD BUILD AIRCRAFT ENGINE PLANT IN CHINA – KUBIV

KYIV. May 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – China’s Skyrizon and Ukraine’s Motor Sich are planning to build a plant in Chongqing (the central part of China) at which they will produce and service aircraft engines under Ukrainian technologies, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv has said.
“The company plans to invest $250 million in upgrading the Ukrainian production and design facilities of Motor Sich,” he wrote on his Facebook page following a visit to China.
PJSC Motor Sich is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aircraft engines, as well as industrial gas turbines. It delivers products to more than 100 countries.
In January-March 2017 the consolidated net profit of Motor Sich, in accordance with IFRS, amounted to UAH 1.457 billion, which is 4.8 times more than in the same period in 2016 (UAH 304.67 million), net income grew by 63.4%, to UAH 3.431 billion.

UKRAINE, ISRAEL WORKING TO SIGN FTA AGREEMENT BY 2018 – GROYSMAN-NETANYAHU MEETING

KYIV. May 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and Israel want to extend bilateral economic cooperation and are working on signing the Free Trade Area (FTA) Agreement by the end of this year, Ukrainian and Israeli prime ministers, Volodymyr Groysman and Benjamin Netanyahu, said.
“I am glad that the general trade in commodities has been growing over the past few months, we are working together to create a free trade area between the countries,” the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine quoted Groysman as saying after a meeting with the Israeli prime minister.
Groysman said he hoped the relevant negotiations will finish by the end of 2017.
In addition, the Ukrainian prime minister called on the Israeli counterpart to consider additionally the possibility of liberalizing access to the Israeli market for agricultural products, especially cereals, dairy products, fish, meat, honey, vegetable oil, vegetables and industrial products.
In turn, Netanyahu stressed that Israel is interested in speeding up the talks on the establishment of the FTA with Ukraine. “We want to speed up the negotiations on the signing of an agreement on a free trade area, develop commerce, trade, tourism, economic exchanges between our countries,” the Cabinet’s press service quoted Netanyahu as saying.
Groysman also reported on the steps taken by the government to improve the investment climate in Ukraine and urged Israeli companies to invest in Ukraine. He invited representatives of the Israeli business to take part in the privatization of state-owned companies in Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a telephone conversation with the prime minister of Israel also expressed the hope the negotiations on concluding the FTA agreement will be completed by end of 2017.

GROYSMAN CALLS ON ISRAELI BUSINESSMEN TO INVEST IN UKRAINE

KYIV. May 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has urged Israeli businessmen to invest in the Ukrainian economy.
According to the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Groysman held a meeting with representatives of Israeli business during his official visit to Israel.
“We are very interested in investing in Ukraine. But I also do not need investments that will not be successful. We need successful investments,” the prime minister said.
According to Groysman, Ukraine is working to improve the business environment and stimulate the inflow of investments: the UkraineInvest office to attract and support investments, the National Committee for Industrial Development and the Office for Exports Promotion have been created.
“Business representatives noted that during the past year they felt that the situation in Ukraine began changing for the better,” the report says.
The premier said the government of Ukraine and he personally are ready to do everything to make investments in the country successful.

POLAND TO ASSIST UKRAINE IN EUROPEAN TRANSFORMATION

Polish parliamentarians will help Ukrainian counterparts, representatives of civil society to prepare a strategy for Ukraine’s transformation. They are not only willing to share their own experience, but also promote the involvement of the European Union in this process. At the end of May, Warsaw will host an Interparliamentary Assembly, which will attract, beside Ukraine and Poland, Lithuania and representatives of the European Union.
This was discussed during a meeting of the delegation of the National Forum “Transformation of Ukraine” represented by ULIE President Anatoliy Kinakh and Coordinator of the Forum Mykhailo Kharkiy with Speaker of the Polish Sejm Marek Kuchciński.
The parties stressed the importance of political and economic partnership – both bilaterally and in the framework of specific programs of cooperation with the EU.
The speaker of the Polish Sejm praised the role of civil society in the development of the state and stressed that the success of reforms, policy of modernization depends on the consolidation of all forces – the government, community, businesses, etc. – around the national interests. Currently, such a communication platform between the Ukrainian government and society is the National Forum “Transformation of Ukraine” that has been developing a comprehensive plan for the country’s development.
The corresponding transformation strategy will be a long-term response to systemic challenges, including the economic crisis. The Copenhagen criteria are used as its benchmarks: the rule of law, developed market economy, competitiveness, and others. The Polish side supports this direction of reforms and is ready to share experience as a country that has passed its European integration path and achieved GDP growth and solvency of the population.
Late in May, Warsaw will host an Interparliamentary Assembly, which will be attended by representatives of Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and the EU.
The Assembly will address such issues as the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU standards and regulations, as well as the expansion of the “circle of the friends of Ukraine,” namely Germany, the United States, Canada, and others, ULIE President Anatoliy Kinakh said.
Prior to that, a delegation of the National Forum met with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, representatives of the Lithuanian Seimas and the government in Vilnius. Former Prime Minister of Lithuania, now a member of the Seimas and one of the authors of the so-called “Marshall Plan for Ukraine” Andrius Kubilius supported the initiative of Ukraine’s civil society to draft the Ukrainian development strategy and expressed confidence that the parliaments of other EU countries would support it.