Upon arrival in Ukraine on March 2, President of the European Council Charles Michel, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, will visit the east of the country and meet with representatives of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO).
“At 13:00 Kyiv time on March 2, he is to begin a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky; at 13:10 Kyiv time, he is to meet with representatives of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO),” the European Council said in an announcement on its website.
It is expected that on this day a meeting with representatives of the OSCE SMM and organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to Donbas may also take place. At the end of the day, Presidents Michel and Zelensky will hold a joint press conference.
The second day of the visit will take place in Kyiv on March 3 and will begin with a meeting between the European Council President and representatives of anti-corruption institutions, followed by a visit to the vaccination center. The visit will end with a meeting with President Zelensky and a joint press conference with him.
As previously reported, the President of the European Council began his visit to the countries of the Eastern Partnership on Sunday. In particular, he visited Moldova on February 28, and on March 1 he is to visit Georgia.
President’s bills offer tax amnesty with a flat tax of 5% for one-off declaration of currency values placed in bank accounts in Ukraine and other assets in Ukraine, as well as 9% for currency in bank accounts and other assets which are abroad, as evidenced in the materials posted by Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev on his Telegram channel. At the same time, when purchasing government bonds from January 1, 2021 through June 20, 2022, before submitting the declaration, it is proposed to apply a tax of 2.5%.
According to the submitted materials, the amnesty may cover assets in Ukraine or abroad, acquired at the expense of income that has not been declared for any tax period as of January 1, 2021. And such a mechanism can be used by Ukrainian individuals, as well as nonresidents who were residents at the time of acquisition of assets or income.
“Assets to be declared: any assets, including movable/immovable property, securities, corporate rights, for which the subject of the declaration is the owner or from which he has the right to receive income,” the materials said.
The package of bills also provides for the deadline for filing a declaration: from July 1, 2021 to July 1, 2022.
It is proposed to establish that the following assets do not require the submission of a special declaration: real estate (an apartment up to 120 sq. m, a house up to 240 sq. m, nonresidential premises up to 60 sq. m, a land plot meeting free privatization standards);
– one vehicle that is in the register (except for those intended for the carriage of 10 people and more or with an engine capacity of more than 3,000 cubic cm, or the average market value of which is above 375minimum wages, while aircraft, helicopters, yachts, boats are subject to declaration); other assets with a total value of up to UAH 400,000.
Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2009-2020.
SSC of Ukraine
The decrease in vodka production in 2020 by 6.7% compared to 2019, to 44.5 million liters (in terms of pure alcohol) with an increase in its consumption and alcohol production by 36%, to 9.3 million decaliters, indicates the growth of the illegal alcohol market, Head of the State Fiscal Service Vadym Melnyk has said at a meeting with business representatives. According to him, in 2013-2020 production of vodka decreased by 2.5 times, alcohol – 2.8 times, and the excise tax on these products increased threefold.
Melnyk recalled that in order to combat illegal excisable goods, the service launched the Alcohol operation on February 1, 2021, during which law enforcement officers seized 226 tonnes of alcohol, 134 tonnes of alcoholic drinks, 547,000 packs of tobacco products and more than 8,000 excise duty stamps.
He clarified that for the period from February 1 to February 25, 2021, the Fiscal Service identified 53 websites with offers of illegal alcohol, 21 Internet ads were removed from websites. The courts are considering 12 petitions to restrict access to almost a hundred websites, one court decision was received with an appeal to the provider to stop illegal trade.
The head of the service noted the prevalence of online sales of illegal alcohol and its transportation through delivery services. He informed about the plans of the State Fiscal Service to work out a solution to reduce transportation of illegal excisable goods, without restricting the activities of carriers.
According to Melnyk, most of the seized alcohol was produced under the brands of the producers Prime, Lubotinn, Oleksandriya and Zlatogor.
In addition, he noted the facts of repeated confiscation of the previously seized products with the same excise stamps, as well as cases of theft of illegal products from storage sites and their incomplete utilization.
Ukraine in 2020 imported 531,400 vehicles worth more than $ 4.2 billion, including 486,300 passenger cars for almost $ 3.5 billion, Ukrautoprom reported.
“Compared to 2019, import of passenger cars decreased by 11%,” the association’s website says.
The largest supplier of passenger cars last year was Germany, from where 99,772 cars were imported for $ 548.1 million.
Imports of trucks and special vehicles last year decreased by 16%, to 43,500 units, and the suppliers of these vehicles earned $ 717.4 million against $ 841.9 million a year earlier. In this segment, Germany was also the largest supplier with 9,589 vehicles for $ 114 million.
The purchase of buses abroad cost Ukraine $ 64.1 million: 1,600 buses were purchased, which is 35% less than a year earlier.
“Despite the fact that the largest number of buses in 2020 came to Ukraine from Germany (568 units), Belarus earned more than others from the supply of this type of transport – $ 38.6 million for 307 buses,” the association says.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Senik on Saturday, February 27, began a working visit to Qatar, where he got acquainted with the infrastructure and technical capabilities of the Qatari seaport Hamad, which is one of the largest ports in the Middle East and the Gulf.
“The deputy minister held a meeting with the leadership of the port, as well as negotiations with the leadership of the Qatari company Milaha and the port operator QTerminals. The parties discussed the state of implementation of the agreement between the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine and the Qatari company QTerminals on concession of the Ukrainian port Olvia (Mykolaiv),” the press service of the ministry reports.
In addition, Senik invited Qatari partners to visit Ukraine and get acquainted with the investment potential in the infrastructure sector.
