Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine and Slovakia would do their best for ensuring stable supplies of gas to Europe.
“Ukraine and Slovakia are reliable gas transit countries, and we will make every effort to ensure uninterrupted gas supplies to the European market,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday after meeting with Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová.
Switzerland’s Syngenta, a large seed and crop protection agent producer in the world, has completed the acquisition of all relevant assets of The Cropio Group, an Ag Tech company with one of the four offices located in Kyiv. The Cropio platform is an equipment-integrated, end-to-end software solution that provides imaging, recordkeeping, and equipment tracking. Approximately 10 million hectares of crops are currently managed using Cropio.
“Cropio is a leading player in the Eastern European digital agriculture market, and Syngenta is gaining a hub for Ag Tech innovation in Europe that will help increase farmer sustainability, productivity, efficiency and profitability,” Chief Information and Digital Officer at Syngenta Greg Meyers said.
With this acquisition, Syngenta will be the only agricultural company to have access to leading management platforms in the top four agriculture markets: in the United States with Land.db, Brazil with Strider, China with the Modern Agricultural Platform and now Eastern Europe with Cropio. Combined, more than 40 million hectares globally will be managed using a Syngenta digital tool, with a plan to double by the end of 2020.
The financial conditions of the deal are not disclosed.
President of the European Parliament David Sassoli has announced his readiness to visit Ukraine. He said this at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday. Speaking about the presentation of the Sakharov Prize to Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, Sassoli said that at present Sentsov “has health problems.” “He has been invited to come to Brussels or Strasbourg to receive it. We will be extremely happy to see him if he is able to travel. Today, in the conference of presidents I said I am going to visit Ukraine myself,” the EP president said. Oleh Sentsov, together with 34 Ukrainians, arrived in Kyiv on September 7 as a result of the mutual release of detainees between Ukraine and Russia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk at a meeting with President of Finland Sauli Väinämö Niinistö has invited business of Finland to invest in Ukrainian projects. The press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reported that the talk was focused on the discussion of investment climate in Ukraine and the exchange of experience between Ukraine and Finland in conducting reforms, in particular in education. “Ukraine has many difficult tasks at the same time, in particular, improving the investment climate. We have updated public private partnership tools, as we are interested in attracting investments in large infrastructure projects. We invite Finnish business to participate,” Honcharuk’s press service quotes. The participants in the meeting also discussed the importance of developing international transport routes, including river and port logistics and infrastructure.
The newly created Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection sees the reset of the Environmental Inspectorate as its priority, the ministry said on its Facebook page. “One of our priorities is a complete reload of the Environmental Inspectorate’s work. We must establish effective monitoring of emissions and effluents. Regulatory indicators must exist not only on paper, but also be seen in practice. To do this, we will establish the effective work of the Environmental Inspectorate,” the press service quotes Minister Oleksiy Orzhel.
He also emphasized the importance of preserving nature and taking additional measures to reduce an impact on the environment.
“We have information that half of 4.7 billion cubic meters of effluent falls into rivers with excessive levels of pollutants. This situation is unacceptable. We will work to reduce this figure,” said Orzhel.
Another key task, according to the minister, is to establish control over compliance with environmental laws and eco-monitoring.
As reported, Ukrainian resident Volodymyr Zelensky instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to conduct a “full personnel reshuffle” at a number of departments by the end of 2019 as part of the elimination of large-scale corruption schemes in state authorities. This list includes: the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (DerzhGeoCadastre), the State Service for Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine (DerzhGeoNadra), the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate, the State Environmental Inspectorate, UkrTransBezbeka and the Ukravtodor Road Agency.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure has announced competitions for the transfer of the property of the state companies Olvia Stevedoring Company (Mykolaiv) and Kherson Maritime Merchant Port and the relevant property of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. According to an article published in the government newspaper Uriadovy Kurier, the concession for Olvia will be granted for 35 years, while the one for Kherson port will be granted for 30 years.
The main task for the two pilot projects is to bring international practices and technology to Ukrainian ports.
By law, the competition and determination of a winner must be completed in a little over three months.
The concessionaires are expected to provide a total of UAH 17.3 billion in investment for Olvia and UAH 1.4 billion for Kherson port. Investment will be aimed at renovating infrastructure and developing the ports.
Plans for the first three years include the construction of a new grain terminal with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year at Olvia (UAH 1.56 billion) and high-priority modernization at Kherson port (UAH 216 million).
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, more than 25 companies from Ukraine, the United States, China, France, Switzerland, the UK, Japan, Turkey, Qatar, and South Korea have expressed interest in the concessions. Nibulon, one of Ukraine’s biggest grain traders, said it might invest in Kherson port.
