As of January 2019 4.08 million ha of forests has been certified in Ukraine, and most of the forests are kept by the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine, the press service of the authority has reported, referring to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Ukraine. According to the authority, the certification confirms that the forestry system in the certified forests meets international requirements for management and use of forests in line with sustainable development principles.
“The regions of Ukraine with forests have a high percentage of international certification. Unfortunately, certification did not occur in the southern and eastern regions due to the lack of funding,” Deputy Head of the State Forest Resources Agency Volodymyr Bondar said, adding that the authority intends to continue certification this year.
According to the State Forest Resources Agency, at the end of 2018, the Accreditation Services International (ASI) inspected the activities of audit companies for forest certification and did not reveal any violations.
The total area of forest areas of Ukraine is almost 10.4 million hectares. The forest cover of Ukraine is 15.9%. The State Forest Resources Agency manages 7.6 million hectares of forests (73% of the forest fund of Ukraine).
Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman intends to visit Oslo (Norway) at the end of January of this year, where he will take part in a business forum.
“At the end of January, I plan an official visit to Norway. One of the events of the trip will be a business forum, which we will open together with the leadership of the Norwegian government,” Groysman said on Facebook.
According to the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the potential of economic cooperation between Ukraine and Norway needs to be strengthened, and this is facilitated by both the political dialogue between the countries and the expansion of the areas of economic cooperation that has been observed recently.
It is noted that now more than 50 Norwegian companies operate in Ukraine. The range of investment is not only trade in goods traditional for both countries, primarily metal and food, but also advanced technologies, in particular, green energy – solar and wind.
“The planned volume of Norwegian investments in this particular area will reach hundreds of millions of dollars. Relevant energy projects will be implemented in the south of Ukraine,” the report says.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on January 23-24 will make a working visit to Switzerland to participate in the annual World Economic Forum, his press service said. “The head of state will take part in the session on the Strategic Outlook for Central and Eastern Europe and hold a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of international organizations, world leaders, and representatives of leading business circles of the world,” the message says. The president of Ukraine will also chair the second meeting of the National Investment Council, which will be held in Davos.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
PrivatBank (Kyiv) in 2018 saw UAH 11.7 billion of net profit, Board Chairman Petr Krumphanzl has said.
“2018 was not easy, but we were successful. I think that this figure [profit] is a contribution for the state, because it helps the development of the country, it helps the stability of the financial system, and it helps us to implement the strategy [of the bank’s development] approved by the Ministry of Finance. This is the best result since the economic crisis and the outbreak of war, and I am pleased that today I can name this figure – UAH 11.7 billion,” he said at a briefing in Dnipro on Tuesday.
