KYIV. June 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Commission will provide EUR 55 million of technical aid develop small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in 15 regions of Ukraine.
Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius and European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn signed the memorandum of understanding in Kyiv on Thursday.
“I’m sure that the driver of the economy in the near term and close outlook should be small and medium-sized enterprises. This is the most mobile and active part of businessmen,” Abromavicius said during the signing of the memo.
The minister said that EUR 55 million will be used to open 15 centers for support of SME in Ukrainian regions. The centers will provide consultations to businessmen and help them to find new markets.
Abromavicius said that the today’s memo is a first part of the program which could open an opportunity for receiving EUR 40 million from the SME loan guarantee facility by Ukraine and in the future the sum could be extended to EUR 1 billion.
“The tool is intended to help SME to use new trade opportunities and improve access to financing,” Hahn said.
He said that taking into account the today’s memo the total sum of EU grants to Ukraine only this year amounts to EUR 200 million.
KYIV. June 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environmental Partnership (E5P) is ready to provide some funds for energy efficiency in Ukraine.
The State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine reported on Wednesday that the announcement was made by Е5Р Manager Anders Lund at a meeting with Agency Chairman Serhiy Savchuk where the sides discussed the possible ways of extending government support to modernize heating efficiency of public buildings.
Lund said that in October 2015 Е5Р plans to hold a broad coordination meeting where the issue of providing funds to Ukraine for energy efficiency.
“Taking into account the fact that the state program on modernization of heating efficiency is of great demand, the issue of raising grants for modernization of heating efficiency in the future periods has aroused,” reads the report, citing Savchuk.
The decision to create E5P was made on April 28, 2009 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the North Investment Bank (NIB), The Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
KYIV. June 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn has said the EU will provide assistance worth around EUR 70 million in acknowledgement of the progress Ukraine has made in establishing the rule of law.
The European Union will provide substantial assistance for Ukraine’s achievements in the field of rule of law, he said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on Thursday.
He noted that there is no definite figure yet, but it may be around EUR 70 million and would come from the EU Framework Fund.
WARSAW. June 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The privatization of state objects in Ukraine should start with the sale of the largest enterprises, President of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) Board Pawel Tamborski, who is a member of the supervisory council for the reform of state enterprises under the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, has said.
“We [the supervisory council] have just started work: under the leadership of Odesa Region Governor Mikheil Saakashvili we gathered a professional team, consisting of representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank, as well as experts from Ukraine, having international experience. The council in terms of its structure consists of several departments and I was involved in the division responsible for privatization. Speaking about the privatization process, we encourage our colleagues in Ukraine first to enter the market with relatively large transactions, which to some extent reflect the state of the county’s economy. This is what helps to attract international investors and expand their presence in Ukraine, which in the future might serve as a foundation for the development of the domestic stock market,” he said while speaking at Warsaw Capital Market Summit 2015 in Warsaw.
According to him, relevant transactions could be carried out not only through the capital market, but also by special procedures – through sales to a strategic investor or merger and acquisition procedures (M&A).
Interfax-Ukraine news agency has started issuing a news product devoted to the trends of the pharmaceutical market and the development of healthcare and medicine, “Pharmaceuticals Industry and Medicine.”
The specialized news and analytical product is designed for large and medium-sized Ukrainian and foreign businesses, and representatives of power and the media.
Through the new product, Interfax-Ukraine will inform clients about news in healthcare and related sectors, as well as the economic issues of its development.
The news product is a weekly specialized issue “Pharmaceuticals Industry and Medicine,” presented as an online news wire which also includes the most important general economic news.
The key topics are news on regulatory policy, state procurement, pharmaceutical production, distribution and pharmacy chains, functioning of clinics and medical institutions, the medical insurance market, legislative base, and the comments of experts.
“The core audience of the new news product is state power agencies, state-run structures and companies which are interested in the development of the sector. Our information is oriented to those who show interest in the healthcare economy and development of the pharmaceutical sector, which could be a good technological powerhouse for the Ukrainian economy in the difficult times of decline on the raw material markets,” Interfax-Ukraine Head Oleksandr Martynenko said.
“Ukrainian society has a stereotype that the pharmaceutical market is grey and non-transparent. With the help of additionally realized opportunities of our news agency and efforts of the players of this important sector we will try to make this market informative, dynamic, easily understandable for citizens, representatives of the state and media,” Marketing Director at Interfax-Ukraine Maksym Urakin said.
Interfax-Ukraine contentiously expands and updates its product line, offering new products to its clients and improving existing news services using innovative technologies. Interfax-Ukraine is the largest news agency in Ukraine. It is part of the European Business Association (EBA), the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, and Interfax-Ukraine acts as a news partner of these organizations.
KYIV. June 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Private joint-stock company BIOFARMA (Kyiv) plans to enter the Polish, Turkish and Chinese markets and continue its development in the Mongolian and Vietnamese markets, Head of the supervisory board Kostiantyn Yefymenko has told reporters.
“New markets we’re developing now are Mongolia and Vietnam. The newest that we will develop are Poland, Turkey and China,” he said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony devoted to the launch of the first phase of the new biopharmaceutical research and production facility in Kyiv region on Tuesday.
Yefymenko said that BIOFARMA plans to bring two medicines to the Chinese market – Albumin and 10% liquid intravenous immunoglobulinum.
“We’ve handed [over] our dossiers. They were translated to register [our] own products in China,” he said.
Yefymenko found it difficult to say when BIOFARMA’s medicines would enter the Chinese market.
“It’s hard to say when this would happen in China. I can say when it will happen in the CIS states, as we understand the way of thinking there, but it’s hard to say about China,” he said.
He also said that by late 2015 BIOFARMA plans to export blood products worth $7 million and he expressed his confidence that the company would not face problems in receiving permits to export anymore, happened last year.
“We started exporting blood products only in May, as they did not give us permits. After complicated negotiations we’ve managed to avoid paying fines of $1.5 million for disrupted supplies. We’ve managed to agree with partners, but we could have lost a good contract, markets and reputation. When the issue reached the boiling point we gave a press conference. High-ranking authorities read the materials of the press conference and the issue was settled. BIOFARMA received this permit for 15 years, and only in 2015 we had problems. We hope that we would not face these problems in the future,” he said.
“Ukraine has the most powerful pharmaceutical industry among the former Soviet countries. This should be developed. This cannot be lost,” Yefymenko said.
As reported, on Tuesday BIOFARMA launched the first stage of the new biopharmaceutical research and production facility. Investment in the project totaled over $40 million. BIOFARMA plans to invest $30 million in the construction of a fractionator for blood product production. The second stage could boost blood production capacity by 90 tonnes a year today.
