President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Policy could appear in the government of Ukraine in a week.
“We decided to reinstate such a position as Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Policy … We have already seen many really professional people. Now we are choosing the best candidate. Because for us both the country’s industry, the defense industry, the space industry, and all our enterprises, as one of the best candidates for this position said, is the country’s development strategy. For the country to really be industrial, to be a space country,” he said at a meeting with business representatives of Odesa region on Saturday.
Zelensky pointed out that in Ukraine there is a full cycle at many enterprises in order to build an industrially powerful country.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has met with the owners and leaders of Ukrainian businesses, which operate in Turkey, the press service of the Foreign Ministry has said.
“The owners and leaders of Ukrainian businesses positively assessed the initiative of the Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey to create the Ukrainian Business Association in Turkey, a union aimed at promoting Ukrainian companies in the Turkish market,” the statement said.
All participants in the meeting agreed on the need to further expand the economic presence of Ukraine in Turkey.
The Foreign Minister of Ukraine, in turn, noted that IT services and agriculture are two export spheres that adequately represent the brand of Ukraine in the world.
“In particular, in the context of the pandemic’s disrupting traditional supply chains, the powerful agricultural export turns Ukraine into a guarantor of the world’s food security,” the press release said.
Kuleba drew special attention of those present to the recently updated Council of Exporters and Investors under the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine. This body is able in practice to promote domestic business in consolidation, in particular, in the Turkish market. In addition, it is able to open up additional prospects for common access with Turkish partners to the markets of third countries.
“My task is to build a system of the Foreign Ministry that clearly works and helps businesses and investors. I urge you to actively use the opportunities offered by the format of the Council of Exporters and Investors under the Foreign Ministry,” Kuleba said.
Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2009-2020
Ukraine became the largest supplier of grain to the Kingdom of Thailand and exported products worth more than $140 million in 2019, the press service of the Ukrainian Embassy in Thailand said.
The embassy said on its Facebook page that Ambassador of Ukraine to Thailand Andrii Beshta met with Director General of the Department of Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Commerce of the Kingdom of Thailand Auramon Supthaweethum, during which the cooperation between the countries on trade and investment was discussed.
“Therefore, during the meeting, the parties discussed the implementation of the Trade Agreement signed in 2017 between the governments of Ukraine and Thailand, in particular, the importance of holding an inaugural meeting of the Joint Trade Commission and the Ukraine-Thailand Business Forum by the end of 2020,” the embassy said in the statement.
It is noted that Ukraine became the largest supplier of grain to Thailand and exported this type of product in the amount of more than $140 million over 2019. The total trade in goods and services between Ukraine and Thailand amounted to $570 million with a surplus of more than $116 million for Ukraine in 2019.
Ukraine plans to open its embassy in Albania this year, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar said during a meeting with newly appointed Charge d’Affaires of the Republic of Albania in Ukraine Fation Peni.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (MFA), Bodnar informed the Albanian side about Ukraine’s plans to open its embassy in Albania in 2020 “which will mark the beginning of qualitatively new stage in the history of Ukraine-Albania relations.”
Peni passed the Ukrainian side Albania’s note on the opening of the country’s diplomatic mission in Ukraine.
The parties shared opinions about the preparations for the conclusion of an underlying agreement on friendship and cooperation between Ukraine and Albania, which will become the main document determining the framework of bilateral relations.
Bodnar and Peni also praised the resumption of air traffic between Ukraine and Albania from June 26, 2020 and the selection of Ukraine International Airlines for carrying out regular flights between the capitals of the two countries.
They also discussed intensification of the countries’ high-level political dialogue.
The change of approaches in the work of tax officers has shown a tangible result for the replenishment of Ukraine’s national budget, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said during a Thursday press conference devoted to the current financial and economic situation and the state of the implementation of the budget.
In particular, in June 2020, the general fund of the national budget received UAH 112.9 billion, and the target was met by 105.5%. Additional receipts totaled UAH 5.8 billion.
In general, the June performance of the State Tax Service amounted to 107.7%, which is UAH 6.4 billion more than the monthly plan. At the same time, UAH 11.6 billion of VAT was reimbursed.
“Overperformance of the tax plan is the result of the fight against shadow schemes and tax evasion in the State Tax Service. This is an indicator of stopping schemes for paying [minimized] VAT and fictitious tax sparing credits. Such criminal phenomena are a thing of the past. Positive trends are indicated by the amount of VAT accrual (according to the May declaration), which is UAH 19.5 billion. This is almost UAH 1 billion higher than the corresponding figure of last year with a decrease in supply by 20%. In general, the tax efficiency for VAT today is 3.4%, and this is a record for one year and a half,” Marchenko said.
According to the finance minister, it was possible to stop the leakage of funds from the tax service due to increased transparency and accountability of the tax authorities, staff rotation, improved organizational structure of the STS, and improved quality of services provided to taxpayers.”The tax authorities themselves have changed their approach to work. Today, the focus is on the analytical component: adhering to a risk-based approach allows us to stay ahead, and not with consequences,” the finance minister said.
