The Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine and PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) signed a memorandum for the implementation of new investment projects: the company plans to invest about $1 billion in new projects for environmental modernization and production development.
According to a press release from the ministry, the memorandum was signed on Wednesday by Minister Ihor Petrashko and ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih CEO Mauro Longobardo.
The Steel Billion, a new investment program of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, will focus on environmental impact reduction, company sustainable development and introduction of circular economy principles: efficient use of resources, recycling and waste utilization.
“ArcelorMittal is a large investor, exporter and employer. Today we agreed that the company would significantly increase investments in Ukraine, and introduce advanced, environmentally friendly technologies in steel making, which is one of our strategic economy sectors. We expect that investment activity in our country will recover gradually after the crisis of 2020, and cooperation with the global largest steel producer will become an incentive for investors to contribute to Ukraine,” Petrashko said
Longobardo said that during 15 years of operation in Ukraine, the company has invested over $5 billion in production development, and now offers the new program Steel Billion, according to which about $1 billion will be invested into environmental modernization.
“We continue to implement large investment projects and are gradually transforming ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih into a modern European production. Steel Billion is our new program for Ukraine. By this program, we will finance green steel-making technologies and de-carbonization projects. This fully complies with ArcelorMittal Group’s strategy to become carbon-neutral. Actually, steel already has a lower carbon footprint compared to other materials: no other material has the same recovery and reuse capacities. The initiatives to be confirmed under the Memorandum today are a step forward in Ukraine’s industry. We count on cooperation and comprehensive support of the government on this way,” Longobardo said.
On April 14, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal met with ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih Board Chairman Lakshmi Mittal. The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleh Urusky, Petrashko and representatives of ministries.
The head of the Ukrainian government welcomed the signing of a memorandum between the Ministry of Economy and the enterprise to support investment projects for the period 2022-2032. Shmyhal said that the signing of the memorandum was made possible thanks to the law initiated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on state support for projects with significant investments.
“Together with the President and Parliament, we launched effective tools that enhance the investment attractiveness of Ukraine. Today’s memorandum is one of the first successful examples when the large international company plans to use the appropriate tools and increase investments and the number of jobs in Ukraine,” Shmyhal said.
The head of government added that according to the memorandum, a significant part of the investments will relate to projects that reduce the negative impact on the environment. At the same time, the Prime Minister thanked the company’s management for socially important initiatives, the development of medicine and the support of the communities where the enterprise is located.
“The government calls on socially responsible business to join state initiatives in Ukraine, when investors become not only business partners of the state and communities, but also actively participate in the development of the region where they work. The government, for its part, is ready to comprehensively contribute to the further development of mutually beneficial relations and will continue work to improve the investment climate,” the Prime Minister said.
The Memorandum provides for the following areas of development and investment: green metallurgy, which contributes to less pollution and reduced carbon footprint; sustainable development of iron ore mining – continuation of mining activities for 30 years; creation of new industries, in particular rolling and bar mills; modernization of existing facilities; circular economy and waste management (utilization of biomass, streamlining of CO2 emissions, processing of slags and sludge).
SkyUp (Kyiv) has withdrawn from sale tickets for 15 routes from Kyiv and Lviv to Europe, which it planned to launch within the summer schedule.
As the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine, in particular, the routes from Kyiv (Boryspil International Airport) to Germany – Berlin, Hanover, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Munich and Stuttgart were removed from the ticket booking system.
In addition, the sale of tickets for routes from Kyiv to Copenhagen, Stockholm and Ostrava, as well as from Lviv to Alicante, Lodz, Bergamo, Paris and Prague is closed.
According to the company, passengers who purchased tickets for these flights through the airline’s website will receive funds for them to the balance in their personal account. They can be used to purchase any tickets or additional services of the airline. The funds will be kept on the balance sheet without time limits and can be spent in favor of any person, not only the account owner. In addition, it will be possible to withdraw money from the balance to the card.
If the ticket was purchased through an airline sales agent, one needs to contact the place of purchase to clarify the options.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 15/04/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 15
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Ukrainian producers of electricity from renewable sources (RES) produced 222.6 million kWh in the period from April 5 to April 11, which is 17.2% more than the previous week, while electricity consumption in the country decreased by 0.9%, to 2.86 billion kWh.
According to the recent data of NPC Ukrenergo, the average daily electricity consumption on weekdays compared to the previous week decreased by 0.4% (to 416 million kWh), and on weekends by 2.2% (to 387.4 billion kWh).
Ukrenergo, in order to balance the power system in the face of surplus, on Saturday and Sunday of April 10 and April 11, gave dispatch commands to unload RES generation with a total capacity of 4,341 GW per two days.
“One of the main reasons for this was the decrease in electricity consumption during the specified weekend by 2.2% due to seasonal warming [from plus 5 degrees Celsius, on the weekend of the previous week to plus 8.8 degrees Celsius on April 10],” Ukrenergo said on its website.
According to the company, due to the warming, the volumes of electricity production by solar power plants and wind power plants have also significantly increased during the daytime, which accounts for the “decrease” of consumption. For example, on April 10 at 10:00, the RES capacity was 2.8 GW, while on weekdays in the same week it was 1.3 GW, and on the previous Saturday, April 3 it amounted to 2.1 GW.
“To balance the power system during periods of reduced consumption and at the same time intensive generation at solar and wind power plants, the dispatch center of Ukrenergo issued all possible commands for unloading, including at the request of manufacturers within the balancing market, and all available reserves have been used, except for RES producers. Also, all possibilities for increasing consumption by operating the pumped storage power plant in pumping mode have been exhausted, the limit volumes of imports in the Integrated Power System of Ukraine have been reduced to 0,” Ukrenergo said.
The visit of the Ukrainian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister for the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov to Israel resulted in the solution of a number of important issues for the country, in particular, to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. The corresponding statement was made by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk on his Facebook page.
“I want to thank all the delegates for their active position in the work and significant contribution to the issue of reaching agreements in cooperation with Israel. Together, we solved a number of important issues for our country, in particular, interaction in the field of trade, investment, medicine and in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic,” the diplomat said.
He said that an important aspect of the negotiations was the completion by Israel of the second phase of trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in mid-summer.
“The Ukrainian side proposed to conduct the third stage of testing in Ukraine with the subsequent possibility of producing a vaccine, including at our facilities. Israel is still studying this proposal and, I hope, it will be received positively. It is already clear that the pandemic of coronavirus infection will drag on for more than one year in the world. And the production of the vaccine, its availability for our citizens is a very sensitive and important issue for us,” Korniychuk said.
