The Odesa Business Forum is a permanent platform and an annual event focused on the Odessa Region Economic Strategy 2050.
OBF is committed to boost and strengthen economic and investment development processes, and to unlock the hidden potential of Odessa City.
Odessa Business Club – a community of major CEOs and entrepreneurs of Odessa and the South of Ukraine – has initiated and organized this event attended by the leading European experts in urbanism, architecture and economics, Ukrainian top business players, regional and local authorities, as well as representatives of institutions supporting business. In total, 500 people, including those who participated online, attended the event.
The Odesa Business Forum was the first event in a row and we hope to scale it up in the future.
The key topics of the Forum: Economic business vision of the city; search and expanding the opportunities for Odessa to compete for attention, investments and talents in the modern world.
The Economic Business Vision, the key focus of the Forum, was presented by Andrii Dlygach, futurologist, Dmytro Kazavchinsky, co-founder of the Odessa Business Club and GST Security Seals, and Vadim Morokhovsky, co-owner of Vostok Bank.
Among the OBF speakers there were, in particular: Valeria Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration; Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for IT Development; Vlad Mykhnenko, PhD, Associate Professor in Sustainable Urban Development, Research Fellow at St. Peter’s College, University of Oxford; Karl-Filip Coenegrachts, strategist, innovator from Ghent (Belgium), creator of an alternative vision and concept of Open and Agile Smart Cities, City of People; Cees Donkers, the founder of the City as a LAB project, one of the key founders of Dutch Design Week, the designer of the urban environment, the chief urbanist of Eindhoven (Netherlands); Andreas Flodström, co-founder and CEO of the Swedish-Ukrainian IT companies Beetroot and Beetroot Academy.
The event envisaged the following panel discussions:
● Odessa, a City of Innovations. Dropping an Anchor. Cases of successful transformation of cities (panel moderator and forum voice – Andrii Fedoriv, founder of the FEDORIV marketing agency).
● City of IT and Сircuses. The role of innovation clusters in the urban economic prospects (moderated by Maxim Bakhmatov, founder and head of the Transformation Office, UNIT.City managing partner).
Among the speakers there was Oleksandr Vernik, the co-founder of the shoe equipment supply company MSM GmbH, co-founder of Gallery Architect Group, a construction company and a design studio Atmosphere, SINOBI brand, Chairman of the NGO Center for Project Initiatives.
● Odessa, a city of opportunities that no-one else ever sees but we will show (moderator – Ivan Liptuga, President of the National Tourism Organization of Ukraine).
The list of panelists included:
― Yegor Grebennikov, co-owner of the TIS seaport, founder of Impact HUB Odessa, author and investor of the concept of revitalizing the Green Theater, founder of Pro Bono Club Ukraine;
― Georgii Bochorishvili, co-owner and chairman of the board of directors of ZARS construction holding;
― Oleksandr Yakovenko, the founder of the group of companies in the field of international logistics and trade – EnlivUA;
― Andrii Zdesenko, co-founder of the SHABO Wine Culture Center;
― Giorgi Iukuridze, founder and CEO of Biosphere Corporation, owner of Charisma Fashion Group, co-founder of the Inspira Business Club in Dnipro.
The keynote speaker: Volodymyr Yakovlev, media entrepreneur, famous for his projects and books called The Age of Happiness.
Lively discussions and open dialogues at the Forum were complemented by networking at a wine tasting (Ukrainian wines were provided by the Odessa Wine Week project) and a party at the Mantra Beach Club.
The U.S. company Amstar plans to build a logistics complex for $170 million in the village of Hurivschyna of Kyiv region, the press service of Kyiv Regional State Administration has reported.
“Together with the Agency for Regional Development of Kyiv region, we are working to establish high-quality communication with investors. One example is the Amstar company. They have already begun to build a logistics complex on the territory of the Dmytrivka community,” Head of Kyiv Regional State Administration Vasyl Volodin said.
According to the project, the complex with a total area of 340,000 square meters will be located on a land plot of 55 hectares. Its implementation will create about 2,000 jobs.
Amstar is an international private equity fund headquartered in Denver, founded in 1987. It specializes in investments in commercial and residential real estate.
The rematch between the IBF, WBA Super, WBO, IBO World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk with Briton Anthony Joshua will take place in February – March next year, Usyk’s promoter Oleksandr Krasiuk said.
“… the approximate time … February – March it really is. And within this period, a rematch should take place,” Krasiuk said at a joint press conference with Usyk in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to the promoter, I would like the rematch to take place in Ukraine.
“In any case, we are working on … we want events of this magnitude to take place in Ukraine. There are a lot of circumstances, but we will still do what depends on us to make the most of such opportunities to popularize the sport,” noted Krasiuk, presenting aloud the future event: “NSC Olimpiysky stadium. Winter. February …”
Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk became the owner of the IBF, WBO, WBA Super, and IBO heavyweight championship belts (over 90,718 kg), having taken them away from Briton Anthony Joshua.
The Ukrainian won the fight, which took place at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London, by unanimous decisions of all referees (117-112, 116-112, 115-113).
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia has launched the first container train with export cargo on the route Ukraine – China. As Interfax-Ukraine was informed at the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on Tuesday, the train departed from the Liski container terminal in Kyiv.
The train consisted of 43 40-foot containers with lumber.
Following to Xian, the train will cover almost 10,000 km across the territory of four countries. Estimated travel time is about 18 days.
“In the middle of September, we received the 50th container train with imported cargo from China. Today, we are sending the first container train with Ukrainian cargo to China. We plan that these trains will become regular,” Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Kamyshin said.
According to him, the optimal transport for the development of trade relations between Ukraine and China is rail container transportation.
The Ukrzaliznytsia’s branch Liski provides a range of services in the field of organizing railway and intermodal transportation of transit and export-import cargoes in containers. The terminal allows for complex forwarding services for customers’ cargo with door-to-door delivery of cargo through the territory of the CIS, Baltic countries and Europe.
The center has container terminals in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and a transshipment complex in Chop.
The international rating agency R&I has affirmed the rating of Ukraine as an issuer in foreign currency at “B+” with a stable outlook.
“Ukraine’s economy is heading for recovery after the coronavirus-induced contraction. The fiscal deficit has widened due mainly to economic measures, but is expected to narrow in 2021 from a year earlier. Furthermore, a rise in the government debt ratio will most likely be modest. Since the government plans to move ahead with fiscal consolidation from 2022 onward, its fiscal position would basically improve, in R&I’s view,” the agency said on its website.
“Despite a delay in disbursements under the financial support program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government has ensured stable funding. As the government commits to continue a talk with the IMF, progress in structural reforms and loan disbursements can be envisaged to a certain extent. Based on these considerations, R&I has affirmed the Foreign Currency Issuer Rating at B+,” the report says.
“Given slow progress in vaccination compared to other European countries, a resurgence of the coronavirus may hinder an economic recovery, which warrants attention. In the medium to long term, the key to stable, high growth lies in the reinforcement of institutional frameworks for reducing corruption and ensuring compliance, for instance,” it said.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov signed a law on preventing and countering anti-Semitism in Ukraine.
As noted in the card of the relevant bill No. 5109, the speaker signed it on September 29 and handed it over to President Volodymyr Zelensky for signature.
The bill defines anti-Semitism, prohibits anti-Semitism and its manifestations, and provides for liability for violation of anti-Semitism legislation.
According to the document, manifestations of anti-Semitism are, in particular, the call, concealment or justification of killing or harming persons of Jewish origin, giving false information, hateful statements about them, denying the fact of the persecution and mass extermination of Jews during the Second World War (Holocaust), making, distribution of any materials containing anti-Semitic statements, as well as public use of materials, symbols and images of anti-Semitic content.
At the same time, the law includes deliberate damage, destruction or desecration of buildings, other structures belonging to persons of Jewish origin, Jewish communities and public Jewish organizations, as well as religious or religious buildings (houses), burial places of persons of Jewish origin, monuments, as and the public use of materials, symbols and images of anti-Semitic content.
At the same time, the law includes deliberate damage, destruction or desecration of buildings, other structures belonging to persons of Jewish origin, Jewish communities and public Jewish organizations, as well as religious or religious buildings (houses), burial places of persons of Jewish origin, monuments, memorial signs dedicated to Jews, based on anti-Semitism.
Persons guilty of violating the norms of this draft law will incur civil, administrative and criminal liability in accordance with the law, as well as compensation for material damage and moral harm caused as a result of anti-Semitism, its manifestations, will be carried out in the manner determined by the legislation of Ukraine.
This law will come into force the next day after its publication in the parliamentary newspaper Holos Ukrainy (Voice of Ukraine).
As reported, on September 22, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 5109 at the second reading and in general.
