The volume of trade between Ukraine and Austria for 2017 grew by 17%, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen in Vienna. According to him, Ukraine is satisfied with the dynamics of relations with Austria politically and economically, and hopes for further support, in particular, regarding the positions on Donbas.
“We’ve held fruitful and useful talks with the president, discussed the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between the countries and expansion of economic cooperation,” he said. In addition, Poroshenko said he had invited his Austrian counterpart to visit Ukraine, and he agreed.
“The Federal president has accepted my kind invitation to visit Kyiv in mid-March, and we are looking forward to your visit,” Poroshenko said.
“We’ve agreed that during the visit we will try to organize a business forum so that Austrian investors could see with their own eyes how attractive investments in Ukraine are now, how much the investment climate has improved,” he said.
Kyiv authorities plan to commission two new metro stations of Kyiv Metropoliten – Prospekt Pravdy and Mostytska – within three years, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.
“We plan to build and put into operation two new metro stations to Vynohradar within three years,” he said at a session of Kyiv City Council, summarizing the work of the city authorities over the past year and outlining plans for 2018.
According to the Kyiv mayor, among the main tasks is the completion of the Podilsko-Voskresensky Bridge, which is an important part of the project for the construction of metro to Troyeschyna.
In addition, Kyiv will begin the implementation of the project to build a pedestrian bridge, which will connect two tourist areas – Volodymyrska Hirka and the Druzhby Narodiv Arch.
It is also planned in 2018 to reconstruct Shuliavsky overpass and renew the rolling stock of public transport.
According to Klitschko, due to the increase in the revenue part of the city budget in 2018 to UAH 49.1 billion, the capital’s estimate envisages significant expenses for medicine, education and social protection.
The use of mobile Internet in roaming by Kyivstar’s subscribers grew almost four times (by 293%) in 2017 compared with 2016, and the use of voice services rose by 70%, the company has said in a report.
In 2017, the number of roaming service users in the operator’s network grew by 10%, and the number of subscribers who use the mobile Internet in roaming doubled compared with 2016.
According to the operator, the number of Ukrainians who traveled to the countries of the European Union this year increased. Among the Kyivstar’s subscribers they were 25% more than in 2016.
Kyivstar said that Poland, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, Germany, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Russia, Moldova and Belarus became the most popular countries among roaming users by the end of the year.
Last year, Kyivstar reduced the cost of mobile services in roaming in 34 countries.
The operator provides international roaming services on five continents, in 195 countries. Roaming is connected automatically, as soon as the subscriber starts using mobile services.
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian mobile communication operator, serving about 26.4 million subscribers as of the end of the third quarter of 2017.
Kyivstar’s shareholder is international group VEON (earlier VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ exchange (New York).
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a procedure for paying value added tax (VAT) in installments during 24 months for imported equipment.
The decision was made with the condition of the revision of the rules during three days under a request of Head of the State Regulatory Service Ksenia Liapina.
“Manufacturers were waiting for the decision for eight years. It is important to give the unambiguous transparent mechanism. I see unambiguous statements in this decision now,” she said.
As reported, at the end of 2017 the Verkhovna Rada introduced a possibility of paying VAT for imported equipment in installments during 24 months for 2018-2019.
Ukraine exported 19,690 tonnes of poultry in January 2018, which is 1.8 times more than in January 2017, the State Fiscal Service has reported.
According to its data, in monetary terms poultry exports increased 2.3-fold, to $30.4 million.
Poultry imports in January 2018 rose 1.7-fold, to 12,120 tonnes, in monetary terms 1.9-fold, to $5.3 million.
According to the service, pork exports in January 2018 decreased by 58.3% compared to January 2017, to 160 tonnes. In monetary terms the figure amounted to $380,000 against $690,000 in January 2017.
Pork imports to Ukraine for this period grew 4.4-fold, to 290 tonnes. In monetary terms pork imports amounted to $470,000, which is 3.7 times more than in January 2017.
The Cabinet of Ministers at the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has decided to set up the Intellectual Property Council under the leadership of First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv, who will coordinate the processes for the functioning and development of a system for the legal protection of intellectual property in Ukraine.
“The creation of the council is another important step towards the development of the intellectual property system in Ukraine, which is an important priority for the work of the government. This also corresponds to Ukraine’s obligations under international agreements that are part of the world system for the protection of intellectual property rights,” Kubiv said.
According to the report, the council will act as an interim advisory body to the Cabinet of Ministers.
Its main tasks are coordination of interaction of executive authorities in the field of intellectual property, as well as development of proposals for the development of this sphere, ensuring Ukraine’s integration into the international and European intellectual space.
