Canada’s Black Iron, implementing the investment project to create a new iron ore production facility in Kryvy Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region, Shymanivske iron ore project), has welcomed a new law on state support of investment projects with large investments in Ukraine aimed at attracting investments, lower taxes and provision of priority rights to lease state and communal land plots needed to realize an investment project.
The company said in a Thursday press release that upon a company entering into an investment agreement with Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers, support can be provided in the following areas that are relevant for Black Iron to construct its Shymanivske project: lower taxes – exemption from corporate taxes for a period of time and value added tax for all new equipment imported for the project; duty exemption – no import duties need to be paid on new equipment; priority land rights – priority rights to lease state and communal land plots needed to realize the investment project; and stabilization of law – the rights and duties of the investor shall be governed by the Ukrainian laws in effect at the date the investment agreement is executed unless a new law improves the investor’s position.
For Black Iron, this could be a savings of up to nearly $170 million through a combination of reduced upfront tax/duty payments to construct the project and initial corporate tax payments.
Black Iron CEO Matt Simpson said that this is a very positive concrete measure initiated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to attract additional investment to Ukraine that is greatly welcomed by international investors, including Black Iron, and should prove to be very effective.
Misen Enterprises AB (Sweden) received $47.06 million from Ukrgazvydobuvannia (UGV), a subsidiary of Naftogaz Ukrainy, in an arbitration dispute over a stake in the Joint Activity in accordance with a ruling by the Kyiv Court of Appeal made on January 5, 2021.
According to the report of Misen Energy AB (publ) on its website, another UAH 1 million was received by another company under its control – Karpatygaz LLC.
Ukrgazvydobuvannia also paid UAH 236.11 million in nonresident income tax to the state budget.
According to the report, this compensation reflects Misen Enterprises AB’s and LLC Karpatygaz’s share of the replacement costs of the equipment subject to the joint ownership under the Joint Activity agreement.
“However, this compensation does not reflect the going concern value of Misen Energy AB (publ.)’s share at the time the exorbitant subsoil use tax was imposed on the Joint Activity, which led to the termination of the Joint Activity Agreement. Misen Energy AB (publ) and its partially owned subsidiaries reserve all their rights in this respect,” Misen said.
Ukraine has preliminarily selected the American company SpaceX of Elon Musk to launch the Sich 2-30 (2-1) remote sensing satellite in December this year and is currently in technical negotiations with it, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleh Urusky has said.
“We really have a window to launch the device in December with the help of a foreign operator – in this case SpaceX, with which we are now cooperating in terms of the compatibility of the device with launch vehicles,” the deputy prime minister said in an interview on Pershy Dilovy TV channel.
According to him, the corresponding decision was made by the president.
Urusky clarified that work with SpaceX is going on intensively and in the near future it will be clear whether it is fundamentally possible to combine the Ukrainian satellite with a SpaceX launch vehicle.
The official noted that today the satellite is practically ready.
“It requires final analysis and operational checks of technical readiness for launch,” he explained.
Urusky added that he personally visited Pivdenmash in Dnipro, where he checked the real state of the spacecraft.
He recalled that the last time Ukraine launched a remote sensing satellite was 10 years ago, so the launch of the new satellite will be an outstanding event.
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year, commenting on Musk’s statement about communication with the family of Serhiy Korolyov, invited the American businessman and founder of the space company SpaceX to visit the Korolyov Museum of Cosmonautics in Zhytomyr.
Farmak pharmaceutical company supports a balanced approach to revising state sanitary rules for the development of settlements in terms of reducing the sanitary zones of pharmaceutical companies.
“Farmak supports the gradual revision of state sanitary rules for planning and building up settlements in terms of reducing the sanitary zone of enterprises producing medicines. The process of revising state sanitary rules should be balanced and gradual, with constant expert monitoring of the level of impact of the enterprise’s work on the environmental situation and public health,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.
The company emphasizes that the current state sanitary rules adopted in 1996 are outdated and do not comply with the norms and rules that are in force in the EU.
“Now drug manufacturers use modern and safer equipment, the latest air and water purification systems, etc. The company has repeatedly informed the public about the removal of the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients that have the greatest impact on the environment outside Kyiv,” the company recalls.
Farmak notes that at present some media are conducting a targeted information attack on Kyiv-based plant Farmak.
“The most likely goal of the customers of the publications is to manipulate public opinion and Kyiv City Council deputies to clear the site in Podil for the next construction,” the company noted, stressing that the desire to build more residential buildings should not prevail over common sense.
“Neither the healthcare system, nor the economy of the country and, in particular, of Kyiv, can today afford to get rid of a European level manufacturer of medicines, a conscientious taxpayer, one of the best employers and exporter of products with high added value, to please the interests of individual business groups,” Farmak said.
“We are deeply convinced, provided that the general plan of the city is correctly drawn up, various formats of buildings can harmoniously coexist, as can be seen from numerous examples in the EU,” the report says.
The Retail & Development Advisor (RDA) consulting company acted as a broker when signing a lease agreement for the Nikolsky shopping and entertainment center in Kharkiv with the German brand of youth clothing New Yorker, RDA CEO Taisia Litovchenko has told Interfax-Ukraine. “We are glad that the pool of tenants in the Kharkiv-based Nikolsky shopping and entertainment center has been expanded by a well-known international retailer. We are sure that the New Yorker store will expand the range of goods in the shopping center and attract an additional flow of visitors,” Litovchenko said.
According to her, the total area of the store will be 1,549 square meters.
New Yorker is a German brand. Most of the assortment is reserved for youth sports and casual clothing, as well as underwear and accessories.
The New Yorker network has been developing in Ukraine since 2011.
According to the company’s website, as of January 11, 2021, the chain had 11 stores in Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv, Kryvy Rih and Sumy. On the international market, New Yorker is represented by more than 1,100 stores in 46 countries.
The Nikolsky mall is scheduled to open in the spring of 2021. The developer of the project is Budhouse Group.
The European Union welcomes Ukraine’s progress in reforms, but significant work still needs to be done in this regard, in particular, judicial reform, EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Olivér Várhelyi said.
“A significant part of the meeting today was devoted to reforms and their implementation. We see that Ukrainian government continues to take a number of very important steps in all directions. Despite this, there is still a lot of work to be done. This is very welcome, but we need to see further progress. This includes, in particular, the need for judicial reform. We are ready to help, and we continue to help Ukraine in this regard,” he said at a press conference after the seventh meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels on Thursday, February 11.
Várhelyi said that the most important areas of reform for Ukraine are the establishment of the rule of law and judicial reform, the fight against corruption and economic reforms.
