Newly elected Czech President Petr Pavel plans to visit neighboring countries in the first 100 days, a visit to Ukraine is planned for April, the Czech publication Ceske Noviny reported.
According to the newspaper, Paul intends to visit all neighboring countries within 100 days after his election as head of state. Also in the plans for April includes a visit to Ukraine.
The media noted that Pavel showed interest in visiting Ukraine soon after he was elected the new president of the Czech Republic. He said that he would like to visit Kiev together with Slovak President Zuzana Chaputova. In late January, Pavel was invited by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski, who in a phone conversation thanked Pavel for his support of Ukraine. Pavel asked the Ukrainian side about the date of the visit in February.
It is noted that with his trips abroad Paul wants to show that the Czech Republic has returned to an active approach in foreign policy at the presidential level. “I don’t expect to have to go anywhere else during this period, because I really consider our neighborhood a priority,” Ceske Noviny quoted Pavel as saying.
Net loss of insurance company “Zaliznychny Shlyahy” (Poltava) in 2022 increased by 14.2% up to UAH 13,571 mln, reported in materials for the agenda of shareholders meeting scheduled for April, 3.
It is also noted that assets of the company grew by 2.9% up to UAH 56.173 mln.
Equity capital decreased by 4.6% to UAH 36.6 million, cash and cash equivalents increased by 17.9% to UAH 19.8 million, current liabilities remained almost the same as a year before – UAH 5.921 million.
Accounts receivable have grown by 6,7% following the results of the year – up to UAH 2,748 mln.
The authorized capital of the insurer has remained at the level of UAH 21,3 mln.
IC “Zaliznychny Shlyahy” was registered in 1994, it specializes in providing services in the field of risk insurance.
The situation at customs can be significantly improved in a year by implementing six key steps, including common bases with the EU and joint checkpoints, electronic queues, rotations, scanners and digitalization, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said at a press conference in Kiev on Friday.
“I have a clear understanding of what the state needs to do now at customs, and we are actually on that path. I voiced it, there are five or six steps. The first one is to enter into a common database system with the EU,” said the prime minister.
He explained that it will allow to load a car in any point of Europe, to take a single customs declaration and to transit with it through any checkpoint in any city of Ukraine and to clear customs by this single declaration.
Shmygal noted that now Ukraine gets access to certain sections of this register, but the base of the customs value remains closed for the time being.
“Now we are working with the European Commission on a political decision to open full access to the joint registers of databases of Europe, to make 99% impossible as an element of abuse through customs mechanisms,” – said Prime Minister.
The second step he called increasing the number of checkpoints with joint control and with shared databases, as currently there is only one such checkpoint, built for “Euro 2012” in the Lviv region.
The third element of the reform, according to Shmygal, is the rotation of employees. “Why are there temptations at customs? Because when people work long in one place, there is an opportunity to see and negotiate. We have to overcome this temptation,” said the prime minister.
Shmygal stressed that scanners will be an important innovation, because they are necessary for the implementation of the fifth element – the risk-oriented system, which will reduce the proportion of goods subject to customs and border control to 7%. Reliable exporters and importers will only need to check the car on the scanner to confirm the absence of drugs or migrants, explained the head of the government.
The sixth element the prime minister indicated digitalization, namely the introduction of electronic queuing. According to him, the implemented experiment with the electronic queue at the Krakowiec point is a success, and now the state plans to extend it to all points.
“I would call all of these approaches the Six Elements of Customs Reform. They are all simple, but they will practically eliminate the possibility of corrupt influences at customs at all. We are working on this now, there is a team solution. It cannot be done in a day or a month, but it can be done in a year,” explained Shmygal.
Speaking about personnel decisions, he pointed out that formally State Customs Service is within the competence of the Ministry of Finance. “But I do not want to and I can’t put the responsibility on the Minister of Finance, because this is a joint responsibility of the government team,” said the prime minister.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced cooperation with three major Ukrainian agricultural holdings to develop their grain export and storage infrastructure, with total investments in the project totaling $44 million.
According to CNN’s website, the three companies are large Ukrainian agricultural producers Kernel, Nibulon and Grain Alliance.
It is specified that the cooperation with the companies will help increase Ukraine’s capacity to ship over 3 million tons of grain to foreign markets per year. Investments will be used to develop the infrastructure of agricultural products storage and expansion of elevators.
“This announcement is part of a deliberate effort by the Biden administration to develop Ukraine’s economy and mitigate the global food security crisis that escalated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the publication specified in the report.
As earlier reported, before the war Kernel was the world’s number one producer and exporter of sunflower oil (about 7% of world production) and was the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. The company was also engaged in cultivation and sale of other agricultural products.
In FY2022 (July-2021 – June-2022), the holding posted a net loss of $41 mln versus $506 mln net profit in the previous FY. Its revenue decreased by 5% to $5.332 bln, and EBITDA decreased by 3.7 times to $220 mln.
Nibulon, one of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, on April 15, 2022 received the permit from Izmail city council (Odessa region) for the construction of the terminal for handling grain cargoes on the land plot with the total area of 20 hectares.
“Nibulon” was established in 1991. Before Russian military invasion grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and complexes to receive the crops, the capacities for one-time storage of 2,25 mln. tons of agroindustrial complex products, fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and also owned Nikolaev shipyard.
“Nibulon” before the war worked 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries.
The grain trader exported maximum 5.64 million tons of agricultural products in 2021, reaching record volumes of deliveries to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Grain Alliance Agro Holding in spring 2022 purchased a grain logistics hub near the border of Ukraine and Slovakia to deliver agricultural products by land bypassing Ukrainian ports, the throughput capacity of which was significantly reduced due to the full-scale Russian military invasion. The transshipment capacity of the grain terminal in Černá nad Tysou (Slovakia) will be up to 400,000 tons per year.
Before the war, Grain Alliance farmed 57,000 hectares in Kyiv, Poltava, Chernigov and Cherkasy regions, grew more than 300,000 tons of grain and oilseeds a year, and owned more than a thousand head of cattle.
Agroholding has six granaries in Ukraine with a total capacity of over 260 thousand tons.
The founders of Harvest Moon East LLC (Baryshevka village, Kyiv region) and BZK Grain Alliance (Sweden) established a joint company, Grain Alliance, in 2009.
Employees of the Cyber Police Department together with the investigation department of the Kyiv region police and bank security officers have exposed a group of malefactors who issued credit cards and loans to servicemen who had been captured or considered missing, the press service of the National Police of Ukraine reported.
“It was established that three people received data on mobile numbers of military personnel with whom their relatives have lost contact or are in captivity. Attackers carried out the reissue of SIM-cards and checked whether the reissued numbers are financial. Then they gained access to online banking. From the accounts of defenders transferred the balance of money, as well as issued credit cards and embezzled loan amounts”, – was stated in the report.
According to preliminary data, the group managed to get access to mobile numbers of more than 20 servicemen in captivity or missing. The total amount of damage is more than 2 million hryvnias.
During a search in the homes of the defendants law enforcement officers seized bank cards, SIM-cards, cell phones, which were used in illegal activities.
Also police found grenades. They were sent for examination.
The organizer of the criminal group was detained. He is suspected under part 3 of article 190 (fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
After the events will be provided legal qualification of the actions of all defendants.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) First Vice President Jurgen Rigterink led the bank’s high-level delegation to western Ukraine to discuss in Lviv further strengthening the bank’s commitments to Ukraine as the country enters its second year of war, the EBRD press service reported.
With the participation of EBRD Managing Director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus Matteo Patrone and the bank’s Deputy Head of Industry, Trade and Agribusiness in Ukraine Lesya Kuzmenko, Rigterink discussed future investments with Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy.
According to the press release, Lviv and western regions of Ukraine are near the border with several European Union countries. As the war challenges Ukraine’s ability to import and export through its Black Sea ports, road and rail connections to the west of Lviv become crucial to support the economy. The area is also seen as a likely starting point for future reconstruction efforts.
That said, as the largest population center in the west, Lviv has received a significant number of internally displaced people, putting pressure on key municipal services at a time when the city needs to generate revenue. In December 2022, the EBRD provided EUR25 million to Lviv and its municipal enterprises, and U.S. credit support covered half of that loan to provide liquidity for adaptation.
EBRD representatives reportedly visited the city’s hospital and the Nezlamni rehabilitation ecosystem being built in Lviv, where war wounded warriors have access to multidisciplinary teams of surgeons, trauma surgeons, prosthetists, psychotherapists and rehabilitation specialists.
The delegation also visited several EBRD projects in Lviv and the region and discussed existing and potential projects with clients. In particular, among them is the Bank Lviv, which received a syndicated loan of EUR 10 million in August 2022 for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.
In addition, representatives of the EBRD got acquainted with the implementation of the project “Lviv Industrial Park M10”, located 60 km from the Polish border. Its first phase = construction of a warehouse complex of 14,400 square meters is nearing completion. In December 2022 the EBRD undertook to invest up to $24,5 mln to acquire a 35% share in the project.
According to the bank’s press service, other meetings included visits to new production facilities recently created with the EBRD’s support by yeast producer Enzyme, communication with representatives of pet food producer Kormotech, gas station operator Galneftegas (GNG), ventilation system producer Prana and IT company Softserve.
In Lviv EBRD representatives also visited the Superhumans rehabilitation center – a humanitarian project of the bank’s client, owner of one of Ukraine’s largest container terminals TLC Andriy Stavnitser. The center provides prosthetic limbs for adults and children.
The delegation toured the small company, a car wash that was destroyed by rocket fire last April, but resumed and returned to work within a month.
As reported, the EBRD allocated a record EUR1.7 billion to Ukraine in 2022, while attracting additional co-financing from partner banks and international grants and guarantees from donors and shareholders.
The EBRD, Ukraine’s largest institutional investor, has committed to invest EUR3 billion during 2022-2023 and is ready to play a leading role in financing the country’s reconstruction when conditions permit.
The press release stresses that since the start of the war, the EBRD has moved quickly from condemning the Russian invasion to preparing an immediate financial response. This assistance is aimed at ensuring the sustainability of Ukraine and the refugee host countries in preparation for the country’s future reconstruction.
