KYIV. Feb 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sund’Or airline, the subsidiary of El Al airline (Israel), from June 26, 2017 will launch direct flights on the Odesa-Tel-Aviv route.
The press service of the airline reported that the flights will be serviced twice a week – on Mondays and Fridays using aircraft of the Boeing 737-800 type.
Departure from Odesa is at 09:45 and arrival to Tel-Aviv at 12:30, departure from Tel-Aviv at 05:55 and arrival to Odesa – at 08:40.
The El Al airline’s discount program applies to these flights. El Al’s Matmid Club members will receive bonuses.
KYIV. Feb 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian agricultural companies plan to plant nut crops on around 2,500 ha in 2017, including 1,520 ha with walnuts, 890 ha with hazelnuts and 40 ha with almond, according to a posting on the website of Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry.
A total of 5,000 ha of areas with walnuts and 600 ha with hazelnuts are in Ukraine.
“Nut production is one of the interesting segments of the Ukrainian agroindustrial sector. It generates good profits. I am glad about the idea of a pilot project to cooperate in the nut segment in Cherkasy region, the implementation of which will help to attract ATO veterans and internally displaced persons from eastern regions to nut production,” Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister for European Integration Olha Trofimtseva said.
According to the ministry, in 2016 exports of nuts from Ukraine totaled 40,000 tonnes for $79.29 million and some 1,920 tonnes for $13.56 million was imported.
KYIV. Jan 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Grain harvest in Ukraine in 2016 totaled 65.95 million tonnes (in clean weight), which was 9.7% up on 2016, Ukraine’s State Statistics Service reported on Tuesday.
Further, a sugar beet harvest grew by 34.3%, to 13.88 million tonnes, of sunflower seeds by 21.7%, to 13.6 million tonnes and potatoes by 4.4%, to 21.75 million tonnes. The yield of other vegetables rose by 2.2%, to 9.41 million tonnes, according to preliminary data.
The report does not cover the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol, part of the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone in eastern Ukraine.
KYIV. Jan 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv authorities intend to introduce the electronic fare payment system for city transport in 2017, Director of the transport infrastructure department of Kyiv City Administration Serhiy Maizel has said.
“In 2017, we plan to introduce e-ticket in Kyiv. I would say that it has been introduced by 50%. It is used for high-speed tram, city trains, subway and funicular… The system we tested in 2016 [attracting Visa and Mastercard payment systems] proved that it could exist. Any person with the Kyiv resident’s card and bank cards would be able to use transport,” Maizel said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
He said that soon the tender to supply equipment for overland transport will be launched.
He said that the issue of raising the fares in Kyiv after the introduction of the system has not yet discussed.
Maizel said that from 2017 the conditions of cooperation of the city with private public transport operators would change. Private carries will have to sign long-term contracts with the city and the obligatory condition of them will be the replacement of their fleet during five years.
He also said that Kyiv intends to develop the night route system. First night trips were introduced late 2016. In a month of their operations 10,000 passengers were carried on three trolleybus routes and one bus route.
KYIV. Jan 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Siemens business in Ukraine started growing from H2 2016 and in Q4 2016 it exceeded 10% year-over-year and compared to Q1 2016, Siemens Ukraine CEO and a member of the board of the European Business Association (EBA) Maciej Tomasz Zielinski has said.
“We are flourishing. There were more projects and incomes in the third and fourth quarters. What 2017 will be? Frankly speaking, I do not know. The forecast is that it would be better than 2016. Most of sectors where we are operating or even all have rallied,” he said at the EBA conference in Kyiv.
He said that industrial growth in 2017 would considerably exceed the figure of 2016 being 2.4%.
He said that the mining and metal sector and agro-industrial sector have grown most of all. He said that first in the past years capital expenses (CAPEX) projects started appearing in the mining and metal sector along with operating expenses (OPEX) projects. Earlier started projects are being unfrozen, including projects of large holdings.
Zielinski added that the serious growth is seen in automation in the energy and infrastructure sectors. He said that recently Siemens created a hub in Kyiv that is servicing software and startup projects in energy distribution, in particular, implementing the projects for Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He said that the company is expanding the team of engineers of the hub and had to increase salaries for skilled workers by more than 10%. He expects that salaries this year would grow by 13-15%.
Zielinski said that the situation in Ukrainian engineering sector that suffered a lot due to its attachment to the Russian market is improving.
KYIV. Jan 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian trade mission will go to Israel on March 6 through March 8, 2017, Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Taras Kutoviy has said.
“It is planned to hold B2B meetings, visits industrial facilities, meet retailers and take part in networking events. Israeli partners show special interest towards Ukrainian sugar, flour and products made of it, vegetable oil, dairy products, vegetables, fruit, beverages and sweets,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
According to the report, Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister for European Integration Olha Trofymtseva and Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska will head the mission.
As reported, on January 24 through January 26, the fourth round of free trade area (FTA) talks between Ukraine and Israel were held.
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry reported the sides made some progress in approving the text of the agreement and in the tariff negotiations.
