Vaccines against COVID-19 from four companies will arrive in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“We have agreed to supply vaccines to Ukraine from Pfizer, Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Novavax companies. The first stage of vaccination will begin this month. Our doctors, the military and the National Guard will be the first to receive the vaccine,” Zelensky said at the opening of the “Ukraine 30. Coronavirus: Challenges and Responses” Forum on Monday.
At the same time, the president said that having already resolved the issue of vaccine supplies to the country, Ukraine faced a new problem, namely “lack of faith in vaccination, refusal to vaccinate by a significant part of the population.”
“This is a new but very serious issue that we all need to address. Personally I am ready, like most world leaders, to show that vaccination is important, safe and necessary,” the president said.
The president said that Ukraine will buy only safe vaccines from world manufacturers.
“There is no official information that the Russian vaccine has a 91% effect, neither from WHO nor from world experts. The head of WHO said today that there are several key points to pay attention to, one of them – fakes. Citizens of Ukraine are people and definitely not rabbits. We have no right to experiment on them,” Zelensky said.
“Today I will talk to Pfizer. We should get one million vaccines in February. In addition, there are agreements with the Chinese manufacturer. There are agreements with the U.K. and the United States,” he added.
The president said that Ukraine must purchase vaccines and provide an opportunity for all Ukrainians to be vaccinated. “As a state, we will lift the bans on people who are vaccinated or have contracted COVID-19,” Zelensky said.
The head of state also said that Ukraine has developed a vaccination roadmap, which provides for proper and equal access for all citizens of Ukraine.
“Its main task is to cover at least half of the population of Ukraine during 2021 and early 2022,” the president said.
The German government will provide Ukraine with EUR 13.1 million for energy-efficient modernization of medical care facilities, procurement of latest basic medical equipment and equipment for outpatient diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, the relevant grant and project agreement was signed on February 8 between Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov, Director of the KfW Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia Department Olaf Zymelka and Executive Director of the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund Andriy Laktionov.
The aim of the project is to counter the threats and consequences of the pandemic by means of their energy efficient renewal and provision of the necessary medical equipment.
The funds will be used to upgrade the infrastructure and equip 12 institutions of primary and secondary (reference) medicine in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia regions and in Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by the Ukrainian government with latest medical devices and protective equipment.
The project will be implemented by the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund (UFSI) within three years.
In addition, annexes were signed for other projects worth EUR 23.4 million, of which EUR 9 million was allocated to the construction of housing for internally displaced persons (13 facilities) and improvement of infrastructure (six schools and seven kindergartens) in communities hosting IDPs.
The second grant of EUR 14.45 million is aimed at improving the conditions for the provision of medical care. The purchase of new equipment and energy-efficient renovation of hospitals will advert at least 40 facilities in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia regions and in the Russia-occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine in the last days of 2020 registered the issue of shares of JSC closed-end non-diversified venture corporate investment fund CIG, the beneficiary of which is managing partner of Chernovetskyi Investment (CIG) Volodymyr Kryvko.
According to the public register, the charter capital of the fund is UAH 706 million.
The asset management company (AMC) for the new CIG fund is AMC Univer, on the website of which it is listed among the other 25 similar venture funds.
Chernovetskyi Investment Group, president of which is the son of former Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky Stepan, is an investment company established in 2012, positioning itself as a venture investor in Eastern Europe and estimating its investment potential at $100 million.
The Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) is concerned about the latest decision of the Supervisory Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia to cancel the establishment of the UZ-Cargo freight branch.
According to a statement issued by the ULIE on Thursday evening, the decision in fact suspends the reform of Ukrzaliznytsia and blocks the planned capital investment in infrastructure, in particular, in the renewal of the freight car fleet.
In addition, the ULIE said that the decision of the supervisory board to stop financing the construction of new cars at the expense of the state will lead to the inability to absorb budget funds by the end of the year, which, in turn, will prolong the problem of critical wear of rolling stock and losses for export-oriented industries. This will negatively affect the national manufacturer in the field of transport engineering.
“Thus, ULIE expresses its concern about stopping the reform of Ukrzaliznytsia and calls on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as the main shareholder of the state-owned company to intervene in the situation and prevent growing confrontation between the supervisory board and the management board of Ukrzaliznytsia,” industrialists and entrepreneurs said.
In their opinion, the government should pay special attention to the support of the national interests of Ukraine in general and those already made strategic decisions regarding the development of the domestic railway, in particular, when selecting members of the Ukrzaliznytsia’s supervisory board.
“Ukrzaliznytsia’s modernization should be based on the principles of economic patriotism and understanding of the strategic importance that the company has for the transport infrastructure and the Ukrainian economy, its development in general,” the press service of ULIE said, citing President Anatoliy Kinakh as saying.
Earlier, former Business Development Director of Ukrzaliznytsia Andriy Riazantsev said that the supervisory board at its meeting on February 1, 2021 decided to cancel the decision of the Board of Ukrzaliznytsia to establish UZ-Cargo.
The Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine included Rivne industrial park (Rivne region) with an area of 125.13 hectares, initiated by the Rivne regional state administration, in the register of industrial parks on February 1, 2021.
According to the information on the ministry’s website on Friday, the planned term of operation of the park, located on the territory of Mala Liubasha rural council of Kostopil district, is 40 years. It is planned to create 1,750 jobs.
Priority types of economic activity in the industrial park will be: woodworking and furniture industry; production of construction and heat-insulating materials; mechanical engineering; recycling of secondary resources.
According to a posting on the website of the Rivne Regional State Administration, the industrial park has already won the Golden Site 2020 contest, implemented by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency.
The press service of the ministry said that today, 46 parks are already included in the register of industrial parks, including 23, which selected management companies, and eight, which involved participants (10 participants in total).
In addition, industrial parks, which are not included in the specified register, are being created and are functioning, including four parks created before the adoption of the law of Ukraine on industrial parks.
Health Minister of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov told President Volodymyr Zelensky that today Ukraine received confirmation for the supply of 12 million doses of vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Novavax, the presidential press service said.
“The sooner we receive vaccines, the faster we will overcome pandemics in Ukraine. I know that the Cabinet of Ministers is carefully working on the development of a website that will help Ukrainians to easily and conveniently register for vaccination. Like every Ukrainian, I look forward to the start of the vaccination process. Some 12 million doses is a good signal from our partners, and this will be enough to ensure vaccinations within the first months after the start of supplies,” Zelensky said.
Deliveries will take place from February 2021.
Thus, during a meeting with the president, Stepanov said an agreement had been reached on the supply of vaccines developed with the participation of AstraZeneca (Great Britain and Oxford University) and Novavax (the United States), which are produced under license agreements at the facilities of Serum Institute (India).
The confirmation received will be implemented through a contract between the Serum Institute and Crown Agents.
