Kyiv is preparing to meet this autumn the participants in the 56th Congress of the World Boxing Council (WBC), which will be held in Ukraine for the first time, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.
“From September 30 to October 5, 2018, the Ukrainian capital will bring together the stars of the world professional boxing, the presidents of federations from the WBC member countries, promoters, judges, and sports functionaries,” Klitschko said.
Kyiv City State Administration noted that more than 600 congress participants from more than 100 countries would visit the capital. In addition to official meetings and exchange of experience, the organizers also promise an interesting program with informal communication and charitable events. They also plan to acquaint participants and guests of the congress with Ukrainian culture and traditions and show them real Ukrainian hospitality.
“This event will take place in our country for the first time. We are preparing to hold the event at the highest level and represent Kyiv and Ukraine with dignity,” Klitschko added.
Ukraine today has used slightly over one third of funds from the financing, which the group of the European Investment Bank (EIB) obliged to provide, EIB Resident Representation for Ukraine Jean-Erik de Zagon said at a press conference in Raiffeisen Bank Aval in Kyiv. In 2014-2016, the EIB group successfully met its commitments to support projects in Ukraine and obliged to provide the financing of $3 billion, he said. Now over one third of the funds have been used, de Zagon said.
He added that the group’s commitments are in effect.
Some of the financing is provided under the framework agreement, and some conditions are to be met for using these funds, while the $3 billion commitments are remain in force, and the financing must be provided, he said.
As reported, the EU Summit early March 2014 approved the assistance package for Ukraine worth EUR 11 billion. The EIB obliged to provide EUR 3 billion under this package.
Trade between Ukraine and India in 2017 grew by 18.8%, reaching $2.8 billion, Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Mr. Manoj Kumar Bharti said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday. “Here two important moments should be pointed out. India became the fifth country in the volume of the export from Ukraine abroad. In addition, India is the second country with which Ukraine has the surplus in trade. Only Ukraine and Egypt have bigger surplus in trade – $1.75 billion, while between Ukraine and India it is $1.65 billion,” he said.
The ambassador said that these indicators fuel confidence that the growth of trade turnover in 2018-2019 could be 20% and 25%, respectively.
Commenting on trade relations between the countries, he said that India was the first country in terms of export of Ukrainian sunflower oil. Last year India exported $2 billion worth of oil. In addition, in 2017, for the first time, a lot of beans were exported from Ukraine to India.
“Another very important factor is that the largest share of the total number of foreign students in Ukraine last year was made up of Indian students, a figure we reached for the first time in 15 years,” the Indian diplomat said.
So, according to him, today more than 10,800 Indian students are studying in Ukraine, which is 80% more than in 2015.
“I am pleased to say that in almost two years we have increased the number of Indian students from 6,000 to almost 11,000. Taking into account the fact that each Indian student spends about $5,000 a year for education, living and personal expenses, Ukraine already earns $55 million only through the provision of education to Indian students,” he said.
The ambassador said that India plans to increase the number of its citizens studying in Ukrainian universities to 40,000 in the coming years, which in turn will give Ukraine about $200 million a year.
He also said that the inclusion of India in the list of countries, which citizens receive the Ukrainian visa upon their arrival to the airport, had a positive impact on the tourist flow. The number of Indian citizens, who visited Ukraine last year, increased more than 50%, to 29,400 people.
Ukraine in January-March 2018 commissioned new generating facilities on renewable energy sources with a total installed capacity of 159.4 MW, which is 2.4 times more than in the same period in 2017, the press service of the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) has stated. “The objects of wind power plants and solar power stations account for 97% of the installed capacity,” the report says.
According to the commission, the country in the first quarter commissioned wind farms with a capacity of 47.1 MW, solar plants with a total capacity of 99.5 MW, biomass stations with a capacity of 5.1 MW, biogas plants of 6.2 MW, and small hydroelectric plants of 1.5 MW.
Thus, as of March 27 Ukraine had wind power plants with a total installed capacity of 512.2 MW, solar plants of 841.4 MW, biomass stations of 43.8 MW, biogas plants of 40.6 MW, and small hydroelectric plants with a capacity of 96.1 MW. The total installed capacity of renewable energy sources is 1,534 MW (without taking into account the annexed territory of Crimea, where previously facilities with a total capacity of 494.9 MW were launched).
Today the share of renewable energy sources in electricity production in Ukraine is 1.4%, the share in the total cost of electricity is 5.4%.
India hopes that Ukraine will adopt Ayurveda as alternative medicine, Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Manoj Kumar Bharti has said. “This year we added one more goal in relationship between Ukraine and India – cooperation in the field of Ayurveda, in the field of Ayurvedic practices and Ayurvedic medicine,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
According to him, a delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will arrive in Ukraine in April to inform the government of the need to develop a policy for the adoption of Ayurveda as alternative medicine.
In addition, as part of this initiative, the ambassador noted the need to resolve the issue of importing Ayurvedic products into Ukraine as medical products, rather than biologically active additives.
There are currently 12 manufacturers of Ayurvedic products in India that meet the standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). According to Manoj Kumar Bharti, Ayurvedic medicine will help reduce the cost of treatment in Ukraine.
“The result of the popularization of Ayurveda in Ukraine will be saving on treatment. People will receive good Ayurvedic medical treatment for a very reasonable cost,” he said. “At the same time, the government of Ukraine, in particular, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, should be aware of the need to teach Ayurveda in medical universities and universities of alternative medicine so that Ayurvedic practitioners are also brought up in Ukraine,” he said.
In addition, the ambassador stressed that Ayurvedic medicine is recognized by several European countries, as well as by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an alternative to traditional medicine. “Speaking about Europe, I’m not talking about the rest of the world and about Asia. Hungary, Switzerland and Germany also officially adopted Ayurveda as alternative medicine,” he said.
As reported, India intends to support the development and promotion of traditional Indian medicine around the world.
Russia’s Gazprom refuses to abide by final and binding awards of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce regarding gas supply to Ukraine and gas transit via the country, the press service of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy reported after the negotiations with Gazprom held last week. “At that meeting Gazprom made clear that the Russian gas monopoly refuses to resume deliveries to Ukraine as ordered by the Tribunal in the Gas Sales Case concluded in December last year, and refused to confirm that it will pay the 2.6 billion dollars which the Tribunal ordered it to pay in the Gas Transit Case award which was rendered in February,” Naftogaz said.
Both arbitration awards are final and binding on Gazprom, the company said.
Naftogaz said that “Gazprom’s position in the meeting was instead to amend the contracts or to terminate the contracts to reverse the decisions of the Tribunal. Both positions are in direct contravention of and disregard for the decisions in the Arbitral Awards rendered by the Stockholm Tribunal. Naftogaz finds this position unacceptable and has rejected Gazprom’s proposals to this effect.”
The parties agreed to have another round of negotiations in April.
