KYIV. June 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Canada’s governor-general signed on June 1 a free trade agreement with Ukraine, which was agreed earlier by the House of Commons and the Senate, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on his Facebook page.
In addition, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko wrote on Twitter that “the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Canada has received royal assent.”
“Taking into account the ratification by the Dutch Senate of the agreement on association between Ukraine and the EU, this decision has more than symbolic significance… Both Canada and the Netherlands virtually simultaneously took a decisive step towards the formation of the Ukraine-Canada-EU free trade triangle. After completing all formal procedures, this triangle will unite the three regions on the two continents based on the joint commitment to liberal values and ideas,” reads the statement said on the president’s page.
According to Poroshenko, these decisions are the evidence of the efficiency of reforms implemented in the country, a stimulus for strengthening internal reforms and a powerful signal for international partners.
KYIV. June 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and Chairman of the Committee on Business Cooperation with Ukraine of the Japan Business Federation Keidanren Teruo Asada at a meeting in Kyiv have discussed the prospects of attracting Japanese business, including the establishment of Japanese production in Ukraine.
“I want to thank Japan for the full support of Ukraine – both economic and political. We deeply appreciate our relations and are interested in developing them. We have good signals on bilateral trade and good opportunities to attract Japanese companies to the Ukrainian market. We welcome the activities of Japanese businessmen in Ukraine,” Groysman said.
He assured the Japanese guest that Ukraine is committed to carrying out “important and complex reforms” this year.
“And the growing economy is a good signal for investment. Especially since we have a wide range of cooperation areas – from IT to agriculture and infrastructure. We are interested in creating real production in Ukraine,” the prime minister added.
Teruo Asada, in turn, stressed that Japanese business could be very useful for Ukraine, as it is interested in such areas as renewable energy, construction of high-speed highways, including on a concession basis, modernization of port infrastructure.
“Your country can be proud of human capital, which is very attractive to Japanese enterprises. And we hope for the success of the reforms announced by your government aimed at improving the business climate. We are committed to investing in Ukraine, and I think our countries will be able to develop a strategy for cooperation under a win-win formula,” the expert said.
Representatives of civil society, parliamentarians of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania have agreed in Warsaw to establish an Interparliamentary Forum “The Transformation of Ukraine.” Lawmakers from Germany and Canada will also join. The Forum is to start its work officially from June after a joint meeting of parliamentarians from those countries and the adoption of a respective statement.
This was announced following a visit of delegates of the National Forum “Transformation of Ukraine,” including member of the supervisory board, President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Anatoliy Kinakh, Forum coordinator Mykhailo Khariy, as well as representatives of the same parliamentary groups, namely MP Leonid Kozachenko, MP Yuriy Derevyanko, MP Vadym Ivchenko to the capital of Poland.
The Interparliamentary Forum, which is to be created, will be in charge of the strategy for rebuilding a law-governed Ukraine with an attractive economy as part of the European family. It will help to consolidate Ukrainian society for this objective and to engage foreign partners in the process, thus expanding the “circle of friends” of Ukraine.
“In addition, the interparliamentary platform’s tasks will include the adaptation of Ukrainian laws to EU standards and regulations, including through the launch of an appropriate system in the Verkhovna Rada. This issue is important for the national economy, improvement in its competitiveness,” Anatoliy Kinakh has said.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is launching a large-scale project in Ukraine designed to help to improve the business climate in the country and make social dialogue more effective. Partners thus rely on cooperation with national employers’ organizations that are representative, have information resources at their disposal, maintain contacts and work with government agencies and others. This was discussed at a meeting of Chairman of the Association of Employers Organizations of Ukraine (OORU), First Deputy Chairman of the Joint Representative Body of Employers, President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Anatoliy Kinakh with representatives of the International Labor Office, Christian Hess (Geneva) and Dragan Radic (Budapest).
Anatoliy Kinakh informed the counterparts that Ukraine is currently seeing a greater role of social dialogue and employers’ stronger influence. Now, employers in Ukraine have a common voice and a consistent position, which is extremely important in the context of dialogue with the government and other social partners in addressing key economic challenges.
“Our country is facing a demographic crisis now : last year it became one of the top four countries with the highest mortality rate, its population has been aging at a significant pace: there are 11 retirees per 10 employees. Another problem is labor and business migration. Up to one million Ukrainians work in neighboring Poland alone, they include highly qualified personnel,” the OORU’s head said.
According to him, employers, industrialists and businessmen planned a meeting of the National Tripartite Social and Economic Council with the government in late May to discuss ways to solve these problems.
Christian Hess said, in turn, that the ILO expects national employers will demonstrate the high level of partnership and it will work closely with them to implement the future project. This project is supposed to become a certain contribution to solving the above mentioned problems in the labor sphere of Ukraine. The project will be funded by the government of Denmark and is designed for five years. Around EUR 10 million in total is expected to be allocated for this purpose.
KYIV. June 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia intends in 2017 to raise tariffs for freight transportation by 22.5%, the company said in a press release, with reference to the draft consolidated financial plan posted on its website.
According to the press service, the figures are calculated using international financial reporting standards.
“Tariffs for passenger rail transportation will not be raised this year, while those for cargo transportation within Ukraine from June will rise by 22.5%. Such steps will allow us to make the largest capital investments in the whole history of railway transport – UAH 22.7 billion. Most of the funds will be used to solve the most acute problem – the renewal of rolling stock,” the report said.
According to company head Wojciech Balczun, the implementation of Ukrzaliznytsia’s capital investments plans will provide jobs at production facilities in Ukraine and will contribute to the overall revival of the domestic economy.
“If the indexation of tariffs does not occur, PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia will have to curtail its capital investment programs, which will lead to negative consequences for Ukraine as a whole,” he said.
