The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine intends to resolve the issue of launching the U.S. payment system PayPal in Ukraine.
“We have been communicating with PayPal for a year now. A meeting with our team was held in Davos. We are holding Zoom meetings. There are certain questions. Ukraine, in principle, was not present on the PayPal expansion business map. I don’t want to make spoilers, but we are working on it. We ask the CEO of PayPal questions even in social networks in comments,” Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said in the format of an Internet reception desk live on YouTube on Tuesday.
He said that PayPal shall enter Ukraine, and the Ministry of Digital Industry plans to definitely resolve this issue.
Chinese buyers of shares in Motor Sich (Zaporizhia) violated their obligation to invest $250 million in 2018 and obtain permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), but it is impractical to completely nationalize the enterprise and it is worth leaving 35% to the Chinese and the controlling stake to the state, President of Motor Sich Viacheslav Bohuslayev has said.
“They deceived us… There are no Chinese investors and there is no investment program. There are promises: in the agreement for the acquisition of shares in 2018, they [should have paid] $250 million – not a kopiika [was seen],” journalist Igor Solovey posted a video on his Facebook with a speech of Bohuslayev at a meeting of the national security, defense and intelligence parliamentary committee on March 4.
Bohuslayev said that in such a situation he and the trade union support the decision of the country’s president to impose sanctions against the Chinese shareholders of Motor Sich.
“I hold daily teleconferences with Chinese customers. I explain to them: if I, Bohuslayev, violate Chinese laws on the territory of China, what would you do to me? So your dear Wang Jing [was sanctioned by Ukraine] should not violate Ukrainian laws on the territory of Ukraine,” the president of the company said.
He confirmed that in 2016, Chinese partners provided a $100 million loan at a critical juncture, which must be repaid in 2026, and the company is preparing to do so.
At the same time, Bohuslayev, who before the deal with the Chinese was one of the largest shareholders of Motor Sich, after the committee meeting spoke out against the proposal to completely nationalize the enterprise, as this would entail significant budgetary expenditures.
“We need to negotiate with the Chinese: allow them to have 35%, the rest needs to be sold to the state, in a civilized manner. The ambassador must be explained (that) our state does not allow a foreign citizen to manage our enterprise,” he said, while insisting that a controlling stake belonged to the government.
“You can’t just break off relations with Chinese friends… For no reason in particular, (so that) we don’t give a damn about China, it is better not to behave like that,” Bohuslayev said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is preparing changes to the diplomatic buses use rules, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“On my behalf, changes are already being made to the diplomatic buses use rules. We are considering various options. This is the possibility of sealing buses, tracking their movement, fixing a clear description of what is on board of such a bus,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Friday.
He said that now the new rules are being developed by lawyers.
“We will do everything to ensure that our diplomatic transport is used exclusively for its intended purpose. I cannot guarantee the integrity of each of 2,000 employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I assure that everyone who behaves like a dishonest person will be responsible for this,” the minister said.
The head of the ministry also said that the anti-corruption risk of using the vehicles of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be increased from medium to high. “In the new anti-corruption strategy, this problem will receive the most careful attention. Within the framework of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we will increase the responsibility not only of those people who can be “caught hot,” but also of their superiors for such cases,” he said.
Kuleba also said that the employees of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland, involved in the attempt to smuggle goods across the border, were fired from the embassy. “I have already informed that both employees who were on this bus have been dismissed from the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland. Their work at the embassy has ended. Now, in accordance with the current legislation, disciplinary investigation into their actions is ongoing, and based on the results of this investigation, I will be ready make the toughest decisions,” he said.
The minister also said that the Foreign Ministry will be absolutely open to interaction with law enforcement agencies and will help them find out all the circumstances of this case and conduct an investigation as much as possible.
“No one has the right to cast a shadow on thousands of Ukrainian diplomats who honestly and diligently work to protect Ukrainian interests, the interests of Ukrainian business, Ukrainian citizens in the world,” Kuleba said, pointing out that everyone who tries to cast such a shadow will be announced persona non grata in Ukrainian diplomacy.
As reported, in the morning on March 1, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine recalled two current employees of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland, who were involved in an attempt to smuggle goods across the border.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia and the project company of the Qatari port operator QTerminals W.L.L. – LLC QTerminals have agreed to cooperate within the framework of the concession of the specialized seaport Olvia (Mykolaiv), the website of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported on Friday.
Cooperation of the parties will be aimed at the implementation of unimpeded and regular rail transportation on the territory of Mykolaiv and their further development.
As reported earlier, representatives of Ukraine and Qatar discussed the implementation of the Olvia port concession agreement by the Qatari company QTerminals.
Ukroboronservis and Qatari’s QTerminals will also cooperate under the Olvia seaport concession.
The contract for the concession of the specialized sea port Olvia (Mykolaiv) was signed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and QTerminals W.L.L. August 20, 2020.
The concessionaire of the port of Olvia, the Qterminals company, plans to create an export grain hub on its basis.
The company plans in 2020 to invest $9.2 million in planning and designing new terminals, obtaining the necessary documents, and beginning infrastructural modernization. In 2021, the company plans to invest $31.3 million, including in new cranes, storage infrastructure and berthing facilities. In general, the Qatari company intends to invest $142 million in this project by 2024.
Acting Minister of Energy Yuriy Vitrenko supports the development of an electronic platform for the purchase and sale of solid biofuels in Ukraine, contributing to a competitive and transparent market for such fuels.
“The mechanism for organizing the biofuel market in Ukraine should be the use of a single electronic platform on which all interested producers and consumers will trade in biofuels,” the press service of the Ukrainian ministry reported, citing Vitrenko speaking at his meeting with Minister of Energy of Lithuania Dainius Kreivys.
According to the report, Ukraine and Lithuania see the development of biofuels as one of the promising areas of cooperation, noting the experience of Lithuania in the creation of the Baltpool biofuel exchange.
During the online meeting, the heads of the energy ministries, in particular, discussed the issues of the future synchronization of the Integrated Power System (IPS) of Ukraine with the power system of continental Europe.
Ukraine intends to increase the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) by 2025 to $15 billion per year, while at the end of 2020 their outflow amounted to $420 million, and in 2021 the National Bank predicts a recovery in FDI inflows at the level of $3 billion.
The targets are enshrined in the National Economic Strategy 2030 posted on the government’s website.
According to it, Ukraine should at least double its real gross domestic product (GDP) in 10 years.
Target indicators are also the following: an increase in exports to $150 billion compared to $49 billion in 2020, an increase in labor productivity by at least 1.7 times, and a decrease in the unemployment rate from 8.6% to 6% in 2030.
As indicated in the strategy, the share of the public sector of the country’s banking system by 2030 should be reduced to 25% from the current 54%.
At the same time, the document contains the intention of the Ukrainian government to keep the state budget deficit at the level of 2-3% of GDP, and the ratio of public debt to GDP at 30-40%.
As for the trade priorities of the state until 2030, here the document sets out plans to increase the share of small and medium-sized businesses of total exports to 40%.
International trade should also be facilitated by the reduction of the time for passing customs procedures to average European indicators, as well as the synchronization of the work of the customs authorities.
In addition, the National Strategy provides for an increase in the share of investment imports by at least 30% by 2030.
