Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has decided to set up a team of experts to assess the results of the “judicial reform” conducted by his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko. “Recently we have been concerned by the situation with various courts (in particular the ‘reformed’ ones) proclaiming rulings which lawyers think were not based on the requirements of the Ukrainian Constitution and the law,” Ruslan Riaboshapka, deputy chief of the presidential administration, said.
The presence of such court rulings was a “glaring testament to the failure of the judicial reform” carried out on Poroshenko’s watch, he said.
“This led the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to decide to form a group of experts to assess the results of the ‘judicial reform’ and prepare legislative and practical steps to urgently resolve the problems of functioning of the judicial branch of government,” Riaboshapka said.
Both the public and Zelensky’s administration expect a swift and principled reaction from the Supreme Council of Justice to such court rulings, the official said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on June 18 will discuss Minsk agreements and reforms in Ukraine with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, official representative of the German government Ulrike Demmer has said. “During the working lunch, politicians will talk about bilateral relations, the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the conflict in the east of Ukraine and the reform process. Then a press conference will be held,” Demmer told reporters.
According to her, for Germany the “Minsk process” to settle the situation in Ukraine is very important.
“You know how important the Minsk process is to us,” she said. Despite the fact that work within the framework of the format at different levels is ongoing, Demmer did not specify the dates of the summit of the leaders of the Normandy Four or a meeting of foreign ministers.
“Work under the Normandy Four is under way, and I cannot tell you about specific events now,” the spokeswoman for the German government said.
Zelensky will also meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Germany.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has approved the rules of the UAPAY national payment system and placed the information about the system in the register of payment systems, the NBU has reported on its website.
FC UAPAY LLC (Kyiv) is the payment organization of the UAPAY national payment system.
The UAPAY payment system has become the 11th national payment system on the Ukrainian market created by non-bank financial institutions.
Ukrainian farmers in April-June 2019 signed first international crop receipts, the press service of IFC Ukrainian Crop Receipt Project has reported.
According to the press service, at the end of April 2019, Zori Obmacheva LLC (Chernihiv region) issued commodity crop receipt for the supply of corn to the Estonian company Letofin. The receipt was issued in support of the forward contract for the supply of the future corn crop. The agricultural enterprise received pre-financing in the amount of about 40% of the total value of production.
Early June, the Salix agricultural enterprise (Lviv region) raised UAH 1.2 million from the Estonian grain trader Everwelle, which has been operating in Ukraine for over 10 years. An international receipt was issued under a forward contract, the manufacturer received financing at the rate of 12% per annum with settlement in foreign currency.
“Crop receipts allow even small farms to move to a new stage, start working with foreign creditors and attract cheaper financing on a par with agricultural holdings,” the press service said.
The UFuture investment group of Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to increase investment in various businesses by 20% in 2019, to $60 million.
“Last year, the UFuture group invested almost $50 million in various businesses. In 2019, we plan to invest another $60 million. If we talk about investments only in impact projects, I estimate the total amount, taking into account capital investments, to be more than $50 million,” Khmelnytsky said in an interview with the Top 100. Rating of the Largest magazine.
He said on his Facebook page that in September this year, UFuture will open a new campus on the territory of the UNIT.City innovation park (Kyiv).
“At UNIT.City, everything is in line with the schedule. In September, a new campus and an art facility [will appear],” he wrote.
As reported, in January 2019, UFuture in partnership with KAN Development on Wednesday took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the third campus – a new six-story B12 business center with a gross area of 16,900 square meters – in the UNIT.City innovation park (Kyiv).
In February 2019, Khmelnytsky said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the first phase of LvivTech.City is scheduled for opening at the end of 2019.
He said that the first Lviv campus will combine office and commercial sections (cafes and restaurants). The office space will be 9,500 square meters, commercial – 3,000 square meters.
UFuture unites companies and social projects of Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the UDP development company, the Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport, outdoor advertising operator RTM-Ukraine, as well as innovative businesses: UDP Renewables (creates and develops photovoltaic power plants under its control), the pharmaceutical company Biopharma, innovative parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City.
Ukraine since the beginning of the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of June 14, 2019 had exported 48.3 million tonnes of grain and leguminous plants, which is 26% more than on the same date of the previous MY.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, farmers exported 28.6 million tonnes of corn, 15.4 million tonnes of wheat, and 3.5 million tonnes of barley.
Some 283,000 tonnes of flour had been also exported on this date.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, Ukraine exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2017/2018 MY.
