Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINIAN PM CALLS ON ISRAEL TO EASE UKRAINIAN FARMERS’ ACCESS TO ITS MARKET

KYIV. May 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has called on Israel to ease Ukrainian farm produce access to its market.
This issue was on the agenda of Groysman’s meeting with Israel’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Uri Ariel during his official visit to Israel, the Ukrainian Cabinet’s press service reported.
“Volodymyr Groysman urged Israel to further consider the possibility of liberalizing access of Ukrainian agricultural products to the Israeli market as part of talks on a free trade area agreement whose signing is planned before the end of this year,” the press service said.
The agricultural sector is an important element of trade between Ukraine and Israel, and therefore lowering trade barriers and increasing quotas for Ukrainian farm produce are important and necessary, and special attention should be given to resumption of Ukrainian eggs exports onto the Israeli market, it said.
Groysman says Ukraine expects an increase in Israeli investment and seeks new technologies for its agricultural production.
“Ukraine is an agrarian country with great potential, Israel has information solutions for efficiency of agricultural production – these are precisely the opportunities we could use to be useful to each other,” the prime minister said.
Minister Ariel assured that Israel is interested in strengthening ties with Ukraine in producing farm produce, namely meat and eggs, as well as in setting up large-scale dairy production in Ukraine.
He also invited the Ukrainian agriculture minister and businessmen to visit Israel in the near future.

CHINA’S SANY INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN MODERNIZATION OF UKRAINIAN COAL COMPANIES – MINISTRY

KYIV. May 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – China’s Sany Heavy Industry is interested in taking part in the modernization of Ukrainian coal enterprises, Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has reported.
“During a visit to China representatives of the ministry held talks with Sany and made an arrangement to cooperate in the modernization of the coal sector,” the ministry said.
As reported, referring to the ministry, China’s CNNC is ready to participate in construction of nuclear fuel production facilities in Ukraine.

BIOFARM INVESTS SOME UAH 100 MLN TO LAUNCH VETERINARY DRUG PLANT IN KHARKIV REGION

KYIV. May 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Biofarm (Kharkiv region) has opened a veterinary drug and feed supplement plant, investing around UAH 100 million in it during three years.
According to a company press release, the new plant in Kharkiv region would allow increasing the quality of products and expand markets.
The company seeks to quadruple production, exports of veterinary dugs and feed supplements, as new markets have been opened, including the European Union, Turkey, African countries, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.
Biofarm was founded in 1995 as the enterprise designing and producing pharmaceutical medicines.

SOME UAH 2 BLN REQUIRED IN 2018 TO SUPPORT UKRAINIAN MOVIES, SERIES – CULTURE MINISTRY

KYIV. May 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – At least UAH 2 billion is required in 2018 to support production and promotion of Ukrainian movies and series, Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine Yuriy Rybachuk has said.
“The implementation of the law on support of cinematography would require large expenses of the budget. According to our estimates, at least UAH 2 billion should be foreseen for these purposes in 2018,” Rybachuk said at a meeting in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that the new law foresees support of not only movie production by the state, but also production of series and their promotion.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Rozenko said that the law envisages the attraction of not only funds from the national budget as sources of financing, but also funds of the Ukrainian Cultural Fund, grants and donors’ aid.

CHARGING POINTS IN LVIV MOST OF ALL PREPARED FOR STARTING SALES OF RENAULT ELECTRIC CARS – EXPERTS

KYIV. May 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Checks of infrastructure of charging points in three cities where sales of Renault electric cars (Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa) have showed that Lviv is most of all prepared for it where 90% of points (out of 22 points) are operating well, Renault Ukraine said in a press release last week.
The check of infrastructure before the start of sales and the opportunities for comfortable and safe exploitation of Renault electric cars in the city was conducted in line with the brand requirements/
A team consisting of three representatives of the Renault headquarters conducted the ZOE tour in Ukraine during two weeks. Two Renault ZOE cars which travel for up to 400 km per charge arrived from France tested charging points in three cities and their 50 km radius.
According to the conclusions of the experts, despite the largest charging point chain for electric cars in Kyiv (63 points), only 65% of the points were able to charge Renault ZOE well, and in Odesa only 65% out of 17 points were able to charge the car.
According to the rules of the brand, Renault electric cars can be sold only in the cities where the urban infrastructure charges cars well in at least 80% of cases.
“Renault is preparing a report for each checked point that would be sent to the point operator. After confirming the correction of errors by the operators Renault would make the repeated ZOE tour to check the points that did not charge the car during the first tour and points installed after the first tour,” the company said.
Renault Ukraine said that the electric car fleet by 2016 reached over 2,000 cars, while most charging points do not meet European standards and failed to pass the European certification.

RADA RATIFIES AGREEMENT BETWEEN UKRAINE, CZECH REPUBLIC ON SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION

KYIV. May 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada has ratified the Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Czech Republic on scientific and technological cooperation.
Some 230 people’s deputies voted for the bill on ratification of relevant agreement (No. 0140) on the plenary session on Wednesday.
This agreement was signed in Prague on December 19, 2011.
The agreement is aimed at creating the appropriate legal framework for the development of relations between Ukraine and the Czech Republic in the field of science and technology. It facilitates the integration of Ukrainian research institutions and universities into the European scientific community and will promote further joint participation of the two states in pan-European scientific projects.