On August, 1 and 2 the «Kyivan Rus Park» invites to make an exciting time travel into the epoch of Kyivan Rus and see the show with the participation of horses of rare historical breeds. Slavic amusements, museums, horse riding, tasty dishes prepared on bonfire, master-classes and a lot of interesting things from the life of a real medieval city will be waiting for the guests.
Ancient Kyiv opens at 10:00. The program starts at 13:30.
The ticket price: a full adult ticket – 200 UAH, for pensioners and students – 150 UAH, for schoolchildren – 80 UAH, for preschool children – for free.
Ancient Kyiv in the «Kyivan Rus Park» is located in Kyiv region, Obukhiv district, the vill. Kopachiv.
Details on the website www.parkkyivrus.com
The Interfax subscribers can save money with the “openbusiness-20” promo code for a 20%-discount for a full price adult ticket to the Principality of Kyivan Rus:
– by previous order by tel.: +38 044 461-99-37, +38 050 385-20-35
– or at the cash desk at the entrance to the «Kyivan Rus Park».
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) could provide a senior sovereign-guaranteed loan of up to EUR 53 million for the acquisition and equipping of postal vans and for the development of modern automated sorting hubs in the cities of Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipro.
According to a report on the bank’s website, the project is pending approval of the bank’s board until September 30, 2020.
Tranche 1 of up to EUR 23 million is intended for the acquisition and equipping of postal vans to be deployed in rural areas across the country and Tranche 2 of up to EUR 30 million for the development of modern automated sorting hubs in the cities of Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipro and an associated network of regional sorting depots.
According to the EBRD, the total cost of the project is EUR 102 million, which includes EUR 53 million of EBRD loan, a EUR 30 million loan of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EIB) and own funds of Ukrposhta in the amount of EUR 19 million.
The net profit of Ukrgasbank (Kyiv) in January-June 2020 amounted to UAH 437.18 million, which is 1.6 times more than in the same period of 2019 (UAH 275.99 million), according to the bank’s quarterly report posted on the bank’s website on Tuesday.
According to it, in the second quarter, Ukrgasbank’s net profit amounted to UAH 98.11 million, which is 2.3 times less than in April-June 2019 (UAH 221.71 million).
The bank’s net interest income for six months decreased 5.8% compared to the same indicator a year earlier, to UAH 1.44 billion, and net fee and commission income grew by 18.6%, to UAH 555.81 million, while the cost of creating reserves for expected credit losses decreased by 91.3%, to UAH 34.89 million.
Ukrgasbank’s assets in the first six months of 2020 increased 24.2%, to UAH 148 billion, including loans to customers and finance lease fell by 2.6%, to UAH 37.97 billion, and cash and cash equivalents decreased 9%, to UAH 42.24 billion.
At the same time, the bank’s investments, which are measured at fair value through other comprehensive income, increased 2.1 times over this period, to UAH 64.59 billion.
Liabilities of Ukrgasbank in January-June grew by 25%, to UAH 138.64 billion, including customer funds – by 27.4%, to UAH 131.63 billion.
The bank’s equity capital rose by 13.5% in the first six months of this year, to UAH 9.37 billion, while the charter capital remained at the level of UAH 13.84 billion.
JSB Ukrgasbank was established in 1993. The state, represented by the Ministry of Finance, owns 94.94% of the shares of the financial institution.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of June 1, 2020, Ukrgasbank was ranked fourth in terms of total assets among 75 banks operating in the country.
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has updated the list of countries of the “red zone,” those arriving from which must undergo a two-week self-isolation or undergo PCR testing for coronavirus disease COVID-19 in laboratories accredited by the Public Health Centre.
The United States, Panama, French Guiana, Oman, Bolivia, Israel, Armenia, Honduras, Belgium, Brazil are included in the top ten countries with the highest rates of active cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population as of July 27.
In addition, neighboring Moldova, Russia, Romania, Belarus, as well as Ukraine itself, where the rate of COVID-19 disease per 100,000 of the population is 66.70, are on the “red list.” In general, the list of “red zone” countries published on the website of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine includes 62 countries.
The “red” zone includes countries where the incidence rate of coronavirus exceeds 40 cases per 100,000 population.
Egypt expects an increase in the flow of tourists from Ukraine in the autumn and expects by the end of 2020 to “catch up” with the indicators of 2019, when the country was visited by more than 1.7 million tourists from Ukraine, Managing Director of ODEON Tours, the host of Coral Travel in Egypt, Abdallah Tarek has said.
“We expect that after the end of the crisis, which lasted three or four months, the number of Ukrainian tourists in Egypt will be the same as last year. Namely, 1.7 million tourists from Ukraine. Given that the season in Egypt begins in winter period, we are now in a low summer season and expect growth in the autumn,” he said.
According to him, this year Egyptian hotels have kept prices at the level of the previous year.
To encourage tourists, the Egyptian government has canceled tourist visa fees for Ukrainians until October 31, 2020. In addition, if Ukrainian tourists have contracted with coronavirus COVID-19, all costs associated with the disease will be fully covered by state-suspended insurance.
At the same time, according to Tarek, the guest will be accommodated free of charge in an isolated room or hospital until complete recovery. And if Egypt enters the “red zone” again, the tour operator Coral Travel will provide its guests with free testing upon their return to Ukraine.
“I can say with confidence that it is now very safe to come to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. Each beach hotel has one isolated floor or a separate building in which each infected guest will be isolated with the support and accompaniment of the Ministry of Health, as well as the hotel itself and tour operator Coral Travel,” the managing director of ODEON Tours said.
He also said that as part of measures to counter the spread of COVID-19, the tour operator has created a new application, Coral App, which will contain all relevant information about the tour, aircraft schedule or transfer. Also, all printed materials have been removed, now the information is available in the application.
According to the requirements of the Egyptian government, only hotels that have received the Hygiene Safety Certificate are eligible to receive guests. To ensure that all standards and protocols are adhered to, each hotel has a dedicated health and safety manager and hotel occupancy rates must not exceed 50%.
“We adhere to all the rules introduced by our government, in particular, 50% occupancy during transfers, the obligation of guests to wear masks and disinfect their hands before getting on the bus. All guides undergo mandatory training on how to act, how to protect guests from the threat of the spread of COVID-19, study their responsibilities, including drivers,” Tarek said.
Among the hotels that have received the necessary state certificate and have already opened for guests are five-star Otium Family Amphoras Beach Resort, which is part of the OTI Hotels & Resorts International network, and Rixos Premium Seagate (both in Sharm el-Sheikh).
The European Business Association (EBA) has addressed Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal with a request to resume the work of the system of state registration of pesticides and agrochemicals, which was suspended in late May 2020, according to a statement posted on the association’s website on Tuesday.
According to the member companies of the EBA Agrochemical Committee, the problems have become relevant since the renaming of the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine and the establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.
“At the end of May, the Scientific Expert Council at the Ministry recommended 100 chemical products as a result of the meeting. However, as of today, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has not yet made a decision on their registration. Therefore, the abovementioned chemical products are not included in the State Register of pesticides and agrochemicals approved for use in Ukraine,” the EBA said.
The association also noted that if chemicals are not included in the State Register, Ukrainian and international importers and manufacturers of plant protection products will not be able to provide farmers timely with a significant number of next-generation products.
“Due to this situation, legal businesses suffer losses as they fail to sell their products. As the result, the state budget lacks revenues from taxes and customs duties estimated at millions of hryvnias,” the association said.
In addition, the EBA noted that the use period of PPPs is quite short. Accordingly, the farmer will buy what is available on the market.
“Due to the lack of high-quality registered PPPs, there is a risk of a significant increase in demand for gray imports and counterfeit products. Thus, the quality and security of the future harvest, and, consequently, the export potential and currency stability of the country may be threatened,” it said.
Therefore, the business community appealed to the prime minister to pay attention to this situation and adjust the work of relevant departments, offices, and divisions of the Ministry of Environmental Protection so that to restore the system of state registration of pesticides and agrochemicals and, in general, to ensure quality conditions for doing business in the country, which is one of the tasks of the reorganized ministry.
