Ukraine should focus on Turkish and Belarusian transit sea cargo flows to implement a cargo flow growth strategy, Head of the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority Raivis Veckagans has said.
“If we compare a dynamics with ports in the world, then the volumes rarely grow in double digits. There are very few such regions. Even if we look at the powerful port countries, then we see that these figures are ambiguous and insignificant. The growth of the freight flow is good anyway, and the double-digit figure can be with a breakthrough in the development of the economy or in a crisis, with a stable pace of growth of less than 10%,” he told Interfax-Ukraine, explaining the insignificant increase in port transshipment in the country.
Veckagans said that the change in cargo flow towards the decline was due to the crisis, the loss of Russian transit and the Crimean ports, but the figure of last year with an increase of 1% is not bad.
“I think that investment projects will contribute to the development in this direction. Of course, the lion’s share is related to the country’s commodity flow, but we can implement these projects. We can work for the development and maintenance of inland waterways. We see that these are related freight flows, and if flows on inland waterways increase, this will boost the volumes in seaports. We should be aimed at Turkish, Belarusian transit flows for the implementation of the cargo flow growth strategy,” Veckagans said.
Commenting on state-owned stevedores and their efficiency, he said that if in 2015 the volume of transshipment of state-owned stevedores amounted to 489 million tonnes, then in 2017 it was 34.7 million tonnes. Last year’s decline was 12%.
“They simply cannot bear competition. I believe that the Ministry of Infrastructure and the government should support privatization and concession of state-owned stevedores so that it is possible to attract additional investment, new technologies to increase freight flows,” he said.
Transport companies in Ukraine in January 2018 increased passenger transportation by 1.6% compared to January 2017, to 366.7 million people.
The State Statistics Service reported passenger turnover for the reporting period increased by 3.2%, to 7.5 billion passenger-kilometers.
Transportation by rail (taking into account transportation by the city electric train) decreased by 2.5%, to 11.5 million people.
Transportation by road in January 2018 fell by 2%, to 162.5 million passengers.
Air transport carried 700,000 passengers (6.5% more).
Transportation of passengers by trams, according to the State Statistics Service, rose by 5.5%, to 52.6 million people, by trolleybuses by 6.3%, to 84 million people, by the underground by 2.9%, to 55.4 million passengers.
The American asset management company Orbis Asset Management intends to invest more than $30 million in Imperiya-Agro, the manufacturer and distributor of agricultural products operating in the Ukrainian market.
According to Imperiya-Agro, the funds will be used to expand lending packages for agricultural enterprises, the company’s clients in Ukraine.
“We are waiting for the beginning of cooperation. In the years to come, together with Orbis Asset Management, we intend to create a national leader in lending and financial services for small and medium-sized farmers in Ukraine,” Imperiya-Agro CEO and founder Yuriy Otsabryk said.
The American company, in turn, noted Ukraine is an investment-attractive agricultural market.
“We believe that Ukraine today is the most attractive market for investment in the agricultural sector and will try to capitalize the expertise and experience of Imperiya-Agro as a platform with a focus on the needs of small farms in the country,” Orbis Asset Management CEO Vincent Ordonneau said.
Orbis Asset Management offers alternative solutions in asset management, deals with short-term loans in the field of real estate, real estate rights, aircraft engine leasing, carbon emission quotas, venture capital, corporate financing and crypto currencies. It is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York, Paris and Hong Kong.
The enterprises of British-based Ferrexpo plc, which controls the Poltava, Yeristovo and Belanovo ore mining and processing enterprises (GOK) in Ukraine, in 2017 increased payment of taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels by 62% compared to 2016, to more than UAH 1.3 billion.
According to a company press release, during the reporting period Poltava GOK (Ferrexpo Poltava Mining) transferred more than UAH 1.008 billion of taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels, Ferrexpo Yeristovo Mining more than UAH 305.6 million, while Ferrexpo Belanovo Mining more than UAH 6.1 million.
Poltava GOK paid more than UAH 167 million to the local budget, more than UAH 144 million to the regional budget, and more than UAH 500 million to the national budget of Ukraine (20.6%, 17.8% and 61.6% respectively). Social security tax paid by the company amounted to more than UAH 197 million.
Yeristovo GOK transferred more than UAH 53.5 million to the local budget, more than UAH 70.4 million to the regional budget, more than UAH 144.1 million to the national budget (19.9%, 26.3% and 53.8% respectively). Social security tax paid by the company amounted to more than UAH 37.6 million.
Belanovo GOK paid more than UAH 3.2 million to the local budget, over UAH 300,000 to the regional budget, and more than UAH 700,000 to the national budget (76.2%, 7.1% and 16.7% respectively). Social security tax paid by the company amounted to more than UAH 1.9 million.
Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen has announced a new program to support human rights, democracy and economy in Ukraine for a total amount of EUR 65 million.
“I am pleased to announce a new neighborhood program. Ukraine is one of the two priority countries in this program … The program provides for the allocation of EUR 65 million to Ukraine in such areas as human rights, stable economic growth and democracy,” Samuelsen said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko has said Ukraine-Kuwait cooperation in the energy sphere is strategic.
“Ukrainian ministries and agencies and Middle East energy resources can in the short term play a key role in solving Ukraine’s task of diversifying its energy supplies and creating a reliable system of energy security,” Rozenko said at a sitting of the Ukrainian intergovernmental commission on issues devoted to developing Ukraine-Kuwait cooperation, the deputy prime minister’s press service said. Participants of the talks discussed expanding cooperation, discussed transportation and infrastructure development. A protocol that will serve as the road map for bilateral cooperation before the next meeting was signed.
