Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE’S OFFICIAL RATES AS OF 24/06/19

National bank of ukraine’s official rates as of 24/06/19

Source: National Bank of Ukraine

KYIV MAYOR VITALI KLITSCHKO SIGNS MEMO WITH FRENCH VEOLIA COMPANY ON COOPERATION IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has signed a Memorandum with the French company “Veolia Central & Eastern Europe S.A.” on cooperation in the field of solid waste management, the press service of the Kyiv city state administration has reported. “Kyiv is committed to working with reputable international companies with successful experience in implementing projects in the field of waste management. The Veolia Group is one of the world leaders in developing solutions for managing water supply systems, waste and energy. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that today we are signing a Memorandum of Cooperation with the French company Veolia Central & Eastern Europe S.A.,” Klitschko said.
The mayor of Kyiv noted that the capital has clear plans for a gradual departure from the technology of dumping garbage – both from an outdated and environmentally dangerous methodology.
In July, the city authorities intend to launch pilot projects on the separate collection of municipal solid waste in the capital.
“We plan to install up to 3,000 containers for individual fractions – plastic and glass. We met with the carriers of garbage and offered them to develop and implement a pilot project of separate collection in the territories where they work. It is very important that these are different models proposed by enterprises and we will determine the most effective ones,” he added.
The plans of the mayor include developing utility-type waste sorting, transferring of recycled materials for recycling, and also he plans to create a garbage processing complex with equipment for efficient processing of organic and other fractions.
“We plan to build a waste recycling complex, which will have a total processing capacity of 700,000 tonnes per year and will include a sorting stage. We plan to place this waste recycling plant next to the Energia plant, which will be made ecologically safe,” Klitschko said.
The Veolia company expressed hope that cooperation with Kyiv would be effective.

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ZELENSKY ABOUT RECIPE OF MAKING UKRAINE RICH: NOT TO INTERFERE WITH BUSINESS, INVEST IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said about his vision of how to make Ukraine the really rich country and called on business to invest money, time and ideas in Ukraine.
“We are carefully studying the experience of countries that are successful. We understand that they, first of all, invested in education, technology and infrastructure. Ukraine will do the same. Therefore, the role of the state in the economy in the next five years will be reduced to three things: do not interfere business; to build an excellent infrastructure for business and create conditions for doing business in Ukraine was simply convenient; third, focus on education, science and technology,” he said at a meeting with the business community in Kyiv.
Zelensky said that he was not used to catching up, therefore he is looking for creative breakthrough and innovative solutions for Ukraine with his team, and will tell more about them in the near future.
The president said that “to turn from a poor country into a middle-income country is not so difficult.” “The recipes are simple, success stories are known. All these is a mandatory program for us, and we will do it in the next five years,” he said.
At the same time, Zelensky is convinced that Ukraine needs to become a “truly rich country.”
“According to the World Bank, in 1960 there were 101 countries that are developing, and only 13 of them were able to become developed rich countries. In addition, most of them did it at the expense of natural resources. Economists have a special term: “middle income trap.” Its essence is very simple: poor countries compete with cheap labor. As soon as a country receives an average level of income, competitive advantages disappear and the country ceases to develop rapidly. According to this scenario, the country almost never becomes rich, the highest level is “medium,” he explained.
“Half a year ago I decided to invest the most precious thing I have – my time – in Ukraine. I urge you to do the same: invest time, money, ideas in Ukraine. Let’s change Ukraine together!” Zelensky said, addressing business at the end of his speech.

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UKRAINIAN CORRUGATED PACKAGING MANUFACTURER MENA PACK ATTRACTS EUR30 INVESTMENTS

Grigeo, one of the leading cardboard and wood board manufacturers in the Baltic states, which owns the Ukrainian corrugated packaging manufacturer PJSC Mena Paсk (Mena, Chernihiv region), has attracted EUR30 million of investments from INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund to develop cardboard business, according to a press release from Grigeo.
The corresponding agreement was signed on June 10 by Grigeo AB, which controls the cardboard business of the group, and BSGF Salvus, a subsidiary of INVL Baltic, and provides for phased investments of up to EUR30 million in Grigeo investicijų valdymas (a 100% subsidiary of Grigeo AB) with the acquisition of 49.99% of its shares. The transaction must be completed after the fulfillment of the contractual conditions, subject to approval by the Competition Council.
In addition to Ukraine’s Mena Pack, Grigeo Group includes enterprises in Lithuania and Latvia, namely Grigeo Klaipeda (owns 100% of Mena Pack) and Grigeo Recycling. According to the group’s plans, taking into account the growth in demand for cardboard and products from it, it intends to triple the production capacity in five years.
Mena Pack, which has been operating in the corrugated packaging market for over 30 years, produces corrugated packaging made of three-layer corrugated cardboard for tobacco, food and construction industries.

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PUBLIC UNION “ALL-UKRAINIAN PLATFORM OF DONBAS” AND YULIA TYMOSHENKO’S PARTY AGREE ON JOINT ACTIONS TO HELP IDPS

The public union “All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas” and Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivschyna party have signed a memorandum of cooperation in lawmaking in the newly elected parliament: human rights activists and MPs committed themselves to jointly lobby bills to help solve the problems of Donbas residents and displaced people. The signing of the memorandum took place on June 20, 2019 on the World Refugee Day. The document provides for the development and consolidation of the state strategy of assistance to the residents of Donbas, the gradual implementation of a comprehensive policy to restore peace and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
“The aggressive attitude towards people, inattention, and detachment from problems is unacceptable. The new government is obliged to view it in a completely different way and take real steps to help all its citizens,” Tymoshenko believes.

“The pressing issues for Ukrainians from Donbas are: the lack of permanent housing, restrictions in the passing of the contact line, legislative gaps in the issuing of identity documents, non-payment of pensions,” head of the All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas Hennadiy Borysychiv said.
The parties agreed on the need to create an international fund for the restoration and development of Donbas, where donor funds will be used exclusively for the intended purposes.

“Over the past five years, international donors have provided the Ukrainian authorities with about $1 billion in assistance to support the affected residents of Donbas and damaged infrastructure. However, they were inefficient: some money was stolen, and some were simply redistributed to other state needs, which is a crime against affected people. In addition, it undermines the credibility of donor states to Ukraine,” Borysychiv said.
The All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas is a public union that united organizations and coalitions of internally displaced persons in order to protect and restore their rights.

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UKRAINE’S TRANSPORT COMPANIES REDUCE PASSENGER TRAFFIC BY 6% IN JAN-MAY

The transport companies of Ukraine in January-May 2019 reduced passenger traffic by 5.9% compared with January-April 2018, to 1.796 billion people, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to its data, passenger turnover over the period amounted to 42 billion passenger-kilometers, which is 4.3% more than a year ago.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-May 2019, 63.1 million passengers were carried by rail (including the city train), which is 0.1% less than in January-May 2018, and 761.8 million passengers by road (5.6% less).
Airlines raised passenger traffic by 10.6%, to 4.6 million people.
In addition, according to the State Statistics Service, in January-May 2019 some 262.5 million passengers used trams (a decrease of 9.6% compared with January-May 2018), subways carried 298.6 million (a decrease of 1.2%), while trolleybuses 405.7 million (a fall of 8.4%).
Transportation of passengers by water transport grew by 3.3%, to 0.1 million.
According to the State Statistics Service, the data is provided excluding the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as part of temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

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