The US Congress has proposed to increase the amount of security assistance to Ukraine by $50 million, to $300 million, according to the draft US defense budget for 2022, prepared by the US Senate Committee on the Armed Services.
Oksana Markarova, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, said that the draft budget should be supported by both chambers of the US Congress.
“We are grateful to congressmen and senators for the proposal to increase the amount of security assistance to Ukraine up to $300 million in the US defense budget for 2022 (NDAA FY2022). We very much hope that the allocation of this amount will be agreed upon and approved by both chambers of the US Congress,” she wrote on Facebook on Friday.
On Monday, September 20, on the basis of the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security of the National Academy of Ground Forces named after Hetman Petro Sahaidachny, the joint Ukrainian-US military exercises Rapid Trident-2021 will begin.
“The Ukrainian-US military exercises Rapid Trident-2021 will last from September 20 to October 1, 2021. The main goal is to prepare for joint actions as part of the multinational forces during coalition operations,” the press service of the Ground Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Thursday.
It is noted that these exercises are an important step for Ukraine on the way to NATO, they should increase the level of training and efficiency of Ukrainian troops, as well as improve the compatibility of the headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the United States and other NATO members and partner states.
“Some 6,000 servicemen from fifteen partner countries will take part in the exercises,” the message says.
It clarifies that for the first time in the history of Rapid Trident, tactical exercises of a multinational battalion with live fire will be carried out. Also, during the exercise, it is planned to jointly land Ukrainian and American paratroopers from the US military transport aircraft C-130.
The National Securities and Stock Market Commission on September 15 registered the issue of investment certificates of the closed-end unit investment fund ICU Eurobond Fund with a seed capital of UAH 500 million.
The nominal value of one investment certificate is UAH 1,000. The volume of the issue is 500,000 certificates, the National Commission said.
ICU Investment Group, Founded in 2006 by senior investment professionals from ING, is an independent financial group providing brokerage, asset and private equity management services and specializing in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. ICU currently manages over $500 million in assets. ICU is Ukraine’s leading asset manager.
The owners and partners of the group are Makar Paseniuk and Kostiantyn Stetsenko.
ICU, ICU INVESTMENT GROUP, NATIONAL SECURITIES, STOCK MARKET COMMISSION
Odesa 5T is a business event arranged in the South of Ukraine, an international platform for interaction, networking, cooperation, dialogue and discussions between the governmental agencies, municipalities, the international community, diplomatic missions, organizations, foundations, business circles and experts.
Odesa 5T features projects in five key directions of the city development: tourism, transport, technology, trade, trust.
For the sixth year in a row, Odesa 5T will serve as a platform for business and start-up presentations, a perfect spot to meet new partners, investors, business angels, a platform showcasing Odessa’s capacities, the business community of this city, Ukraine and the whole world.
This year the event has reached a new level: there will be a joint presentation of the investment potential of Odessa and the Odessa region.
The Forum will focus mainly on the Odessa Development Strategy 2030, a new large-scale project to create an eco-industrial park “Priority Development Zone in Odessa”, trends in the regional investment market, government support for domestic and foreign investors.
The business vision “Odessa Region – 2050” initiated by the Odessa Business Club will be presented to the participants.
The event will be attended by the leading Ukrainian and international speakers.
On the first day of the event, September 16, the pannelists will discuss the following:
• Instruments of state support for investment activities as drivers of the regional economic growth.
Speakers:
Sergey Grinevetsky, Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration
Dmitrii Sinichenko, Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, representative of the EBRD
• Trust “Dialogue between Government and Business”
Moderator: Sergey Tetiukhin, Deputy Mayor of Odessa
Speakers:
Anatolii Dolinnii, Ukrainian Business Council
Maksim Svirsky, Manager of the Executive Committee under the City Council
Anna Derevianko, EBA
Artem Stepanchuk, TM UFT
• Industrial parks
Speakers:
Roman Babitskii, Chairman of the Council for the International Investment and Economic Development of Ukraine
Eymantas Kludoulas, Klaipedos FEZ
Yuri Filyuk, “Prompribor”
Vitali Barannikov, Ecopolis KhTZ
Svetlana Yarovaya, Vinnytsia Municipal Innovation Center, Vinnytsia Industrial Park
Alongside, several memorandums will be signed.
On the first day, the Made in Odesa & Invest in Odesa exposition will be open for public on the territory of the concert hall, where entrepreneurs and representatives of the municipality will showcase the products, services and projects made in Odessa.
At the end of the first day there will be the traditional evening 5T Awards ceremony, which will recognize projects and companies that have achieved success in the five key areas of Odesa 5T and contributed to the development of the city in 2020.
On the second day, September 17, the leading speakers and fundraisers from Europe, as well as the well-known urbanists and architects from Ukraine will take the stage.
A workshop with the designer and chief urbanist of Eindhoven, Cees Donkers (Netherlands) is a must-be event.
Daria Pikalova, fundraiser of the Odessa 5T grant office, will present the results of the grant project Digital Cultural Routes: A Tool for the Development of the Cultural Sector, a mobile application called Let’s Odesa.
Note: We took all the possible preventive measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 as per the official requirements.
+38 (063) 450 72 50
https://forum5t.com.ua
Patient organizations call on the parliament of Ukraine to adopt at the final reading bill No. 4662, which will provide the possibility of purchasing medicines under controlled access contracts and the Ministry of Health will be given an opportunity of developing the appropriate regulatory framework for the implementation of the controlled access contracts mechanism by the end of 2021.
“Three weeks ago, we wrote open letters to [Chairman of the Parliament Dmytro] Razumkov from all patient organizations (over 30) with a request to bring this bill into the hall. We also wrote letters to the chairmen of all factions with a request to support this bill. We hope that they will support it, since patients need it,” Chair of the Council of the Orphan Diseases of Ukraine NGO Tetiana Kulesha said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
According to her, the controlled access contracts mechanism will allow purchasing drugs with a 20-50% discount. Pharmaceutical companies are ready to supply drugs at a reduced cost on conditions of confidentiality and without using public tender procedures, since there is no alternative drug and there cannot be a better offer. Under this procedure, some countries purchase medicines for more than 250 diseases.
“Patients are not provided with the necessary drugs, because they are expensive, unregistered in the country and the state practically does not buy them. The mechanism for the procurement of such drugs under controlled access contracts is effective in 15 countries of the world. This week we are submitting for the second reading the corresponding bill to introduce such a mechanism in Ukraine,” MP Oksana Dmytrieva (the Servant of the People parliamentary faction) said.
According to her, the Ministry of Health will need up to three months to develop a regulatory framework, and after its introduction, the controlled access contracts mechanism will operate for three years as a pilot project.
“Our model of public procurement, unfortunately, does not cover the purchase of all the necessary drugs, in particular for orphan patients. The bill will create special conditions to provide such patients with drugs,” MP Oleksiy Movchan (the Servant of the People faction) said.
As reported, the bill was adopted at the first reading in the spring of 2021.
The Koudijs Group of Companies (Koudijs, the Netherlands, a subsidiary of the Dutch Royal De Heus) has launched a plant for manufacturing mineral and vitamin supplements for agricultural animals in the village of Khylchytsi (Lviv region) with an estimated production capacity of 1,500 tonnes of finished products per month, investments in the project amounted to EUR 7.8 million, according to a posting of the website of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food.
“The new plant is eight floors of new specialized equipment from the world’s leading companies, automated control systems, an automatic packaging line and robotic technology,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the new plant in Ukraine is part of the Koudijs group of companies – an international producer of animal feed, concentrates and premixes, which has more than 90 plants in 60 countries of the world.
The Ukrainian branch of Koudijs Ukraine LLC, in 2020, increased its net profit 1.4 times compared to 2019, to UAH 38.46 million, revenue 1.6 times, to UAH 593 million.
According to the unified public register of legal entities and sole proprietors, the ultimate beneficiaries of Koudijs Ukraine LLC are Hendrik Anthony de Hois (the Netherlands, owns 51% in the charter capital of the company) and Fedir Shopsky (49%).
The company’s website states that the plant’s capacity at the level of 1,500 tonnes of finished products is able to fully meet the needs of Ukrainian livestock and poultry farms. The enterprise will produce mineral and vitamin supplements for the domestic market, but they also could be exported in the future.
“In order for the economy in the state to develop, the authorities must create the necessary conditions for this. Today, we are building roads, improving infrastructure, building schools and sports grounds and opening new powerful enterprises. For example, yesterday, the first innovative seed-breeding center in Western Ukraine was launched in the region, and today we are opening a modern plant for the production of feed,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said, citing Head of the Lviv Regional State Administration Maksym Kozytsky.
