Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Löfven on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, and the sides discussed prospects of negotiations on Donbas and Swedish investment in the Ukrainian economy.
The press service of the president of Ukraine reported on the president’s website on Wednesday, Zelensky thanked the prime minister for comprehensive support of Kyiv, in particular, the support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The parties discussed the prospects of the negotiations on Donbas.
“We are not ready to wait five more years for the negotiations in Minsk to yield results,” Zelensky said.
The head of state also noted the importance of Sweden as a partner for Ukraine, in particular in the trade sphere.
Zelensky urged Löfven to facilitate the increase of Swedish investments in Ukraine’s economy, including the spheres of energy efficiency and recycling.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky intends to invite U.S. President Donald Trump to pay an official visit to Ukraine.
“I expect that we will have very cool relations with the United States. I expect to invite, this has not happened for many years, and, as they say in English, the time to visit Ukraine. So we expect that we will agree on a visit,” he said in a video comment following the results of the first bilateral meetings in New York at the UN General Assembly, published on the President’s Office official page on Facebook.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of September 25
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 25/09/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
The low standard of quality in the commercial real estate market in Ukraine and a lack of systemic changes are the result of withdrawal of foreign investors, Serhiy Serhiyenko, the managing partner of CBRE Ukraine, has said at the meeting “Global Review of Ukraine’s Economy” in Kyiv.
“In order for this to change, the state needs to be ready to help interact with potential investors. Because the barriers to entering the market are huge. Today there are practically no international investors. They were, they tried, and they practically all left. Now we need a thorough approach from the city and the state to plan competitive business infrastructure,” he added.
The managing partner of CBRE Ukraine said that a lack of international players is the reason for stagnation – almost everyone creates the same product with minimal innovations, while there is no systematic change in the approach to real estate, although there is demand for quality products in the country.
“Today, I would say, the commercial real estate market is in a state of stagnation and underdevelopment. We do not have system investors, we do not have a systematic approach to real estate, we have a very low quality standard, despite the fact that there is demand,” the expert said.
According to him, over the past 4.5 years, more than 500,000 square meters of offices have been leased in the Kyiv market, of which 200,000 were rented by IT companies.
He noted that the demand from IT specialists is huge, but it cannot be satisfied, as many companies need large-scale areas of 20,000-30,000 square meters, which can only be provided by systemic international players.
Sugar production in Ukraine as of September 24, 2019 amounted to 121,500 tonnes.
According to the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers, as of this date 17 sugar factories were operating in the country, which have processed 934,200 tonnes of sugar beets.
As reported, the sugar season in Ukraine started on September 1. According to the Ukrtsukor association, the number of sugar factories in operation in the 2019/2020 season will be reduced from 42 to 32, and sugar production is expected to reach 1.1-1.2 million tonnes.
Sugar production in the 2018/2019 season decreased by 15% compared with the previous MY, to 1.82 million tonnes
