KYIV. July 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine counts on new projects with the European Investment Bank (EIB) in infrastructure and energy efficiency, Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk reported after a meeting with EIB Vice-President Laszlo Baranyay on Friday.
“We have agreed about the continued support of Ukraine by the EIB, in particular in new projects in the field of infrastructure and energy, which means new roads and winterized schools,” the finance minister wrote on Facebook.
According to him, during the meeting they also discussed the current state of the implementation of ongoing projects.
According to the information on the EIB website, three projects for Ukraine are currently waiting for approval by the EIB board. These are a EUR 150 million project with Ukrzaliznytsia for the railway modernization, a EUR 400 million project with Ukrhydroenergo on Kaniv pumped storage hydro station and a EUR 200 million project for the development of local transport to 20 cities.
This week, the Ukrainian government has approved the concept of Energy Efficiency Fund, which is planned to be launched in 2017 with the support of international financial institutions.
EIB Senior Corporate Banker Jean-Jacques Soulacroup reported earlier the European Investment Bank (EIB) intends to invest about EUR 800 million in projects in Ukraine in 2016, while in future mulls the annual funding of up to EUR 1 billion for the country. Last year, the EIB provided loans worth EUR 1.2 billion to Ukraine.
KYIV. July 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – It’s time for Ukraine to attract more foreign investment , head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration Borys Lozhkin said after meeting with chiefs of one of the largest business conglomerates of Oman’s Sultan – Suhail Bahwan Group (SBG) on Monday.
“Now it is the time to intensify efforts to attract foreign investments. We have what to offer for international capital in various areas of economy, and we need to fulfill our potential. We need to create conditions for investors, ones which they are accustomed to working around the globe – distinct, clear, safe [conditions]. And I am ready to coordinate the work in this direction,” he said.
“We have discussed which sectors of Ukrainian economy could be interesting for SBG in terms of strategic investments,” he added.
SBG holding with a multibillion turnover is a large player on a global market of nitrogen fertilizers, which owns assets in areas of energy and power, infrastructure and building, transport and medical services, and others.
In his words, volumes of foreign investments are continuing to grow in 2016, but the pace is insufficient. Ukrainian economy, as before, desperately needs participation of foreign investors. “This is one of the key factors of its growth. That’s what I was saying on behalf of the president in meetings with investors in London, Washington, Baku, Kyiv,” he said.
Excluding the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and part of the anti-terrorist operation zone. Source: State Statistics Services
KYIV. July 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has passed amendments to the legislation that introduced biometric passports for Ukrainian citizen.
Corresponding bill No. 3224 was repeatedly put to the vote and in the end it was supported by 226 lawmakers, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent said.
According to the document, passports will be issued to people aged 14 and older. In addition, there will be no stamp about the registration or annulment of a marriage in new passports.
The law stipulates that fingerprints will be taken for issuing foreign passports, diplomatic passport, service passports and other documents. At present, when foreign passports are issued fingerprints are taken only with the consent of a person. Under the new law, digitized fingerprints will be also included into internal passports only with the consent of a person.
According to the law, each citizen who reached the age of 14 must get a passport. Passports will be issued for four years to persons under 18 years of age, and for ten years for all the rest.
Passports will contain text in the Ukrainian and English languages. Passports of citizens of Ukraine will not have a mark about the registration of marriage or its annulment, but each spouse will be issued a marriage certificate.
KHARKIV. July 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of Kharkiv Regional Administration Ihor Rainin believes that the terms of resumption of operation of Kharkiv Tractor Plant depend on the course of investigation into criminal cases opened by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
“The problem solving depends on the criminal cases opened by SBU. First the plant was to be saved, as some production facilities were to have been taken to Russia… Now I am absolutely confident that the enterprise should operation lawfully and 2,000 employees should receive wages,” Rainin told reporters on Wednesday.
“I am really taking efforts to find a balance – between the effective operation of the enterprise and legal liability,” he said.
BAKU. July 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has stated Azerbaijan and Ukraine are interested in implementing the Odesa-Brody project for oil transportation.
“We have seriously discussed the Odesa-Brody project because Azerbaijan supplies large volumes of oil to the European market,” Aliyev said at a meeting with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in Baku.
Reviving this project would create good transport opportunities, connecting the Caspian Sea, Black Sea and Baltic Sea, Aliyev said.
“This triangle has the potential for cooperation, and I consider that without doubt the role of the transport corridor is the key one in our cooperation,” he said.
