KHARKIV. Dec 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of Kharkiv Regional State Administration Yulia Svitlychna and Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine Nguyen Minh Tri have discussed the expansion of bilateral cooperation between Kharkiv region and Vietnam.
Nguyen Minh Chi suggested organizing a business forum with the participation of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in Kharkiv region, the regional administration’s press service reported.
“I would like to have a large-scale business forum organized in Kharkiv region as part of expansion of economic and trade cooperation between Ukraine and Vietnam. After all, we are very interested in your region, and the potential of our cooperation is huge,” the press service quoted the ambassador as saying.
For her part, Svitlychna said Vietnamese enterprises continue to develop their business in on the territory of Kharkiv region, and local enterprises also export their products to Vietnam.
“I believe that our cooperation will be expanding in various directions, and further cooperation has a great future and will bring stable and strong economic result,” Svitlychna said.
KYIV. Dec 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration Valentyn Reznichenko has liquidated the Pavlohrad industrial park created under a decision of his predecessor Ihor Kolomoisky dated February 5, 2015. He decided to create it again.
The decision approving the park concept was made on December 13.
According to the document, the park is created for the period of 30 years on a land parcel of 250 ha having borders with the territories of state-run enterprise Pivdenmash and Pavlohrad Technological Equipment Plant LLC.
“The top priority directions of operation for determining the functional importance of the Pavlohrad industrial park are new production facilities that use environment friendly, energy saving, innovative and hi-tech technologies in a wide range of sectors, particularly: engineering, construction materials, logistics, light and processing industries,” reads the document.
It is planned that infrastructure for the park will be built in three stages: 50 ha, 100 ha and 100 ha.
Almost UAH 156 million is required to create the park. The funds would be raised from the national and regional budgets and a managing company. UAH 11 million is required to build power lines and some UAH 4 million to connect to gas, water and roads. It is planned that the creation of the park would help to raise $375 million of investment.
Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration has announced a tender to select a managing company for the industrial park. Bids can be submitted until January 13, 2017.
KYIV. Dec 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The many-year process of transferring barges of Europe-IIb type to ownership of Ukrainian Danube Navigation (Odesa region) was finished on December 13 in Vienna, the press service of Ukrainian Danube Navigation has reported.
Twenty seven years ago, in 1989, Sovkomflot signed a contract with Austria’s BAWAG leasing GmbH to build Europe-IIb type barges. When the USSR dissolved, Ukrainian Danube Navigation became the legal successor of liabilities of Sovkomflot.
Under the agreement, the advance payment of 15% of the cost of the barges was paid, and the rest of the sum was to be paid under a schedule. However, there were breaks in the schedule during more than 25 years and then payments were stopped due to financial difficulties of the enterprise over the UN embargo against Yugoslavia, war in this country and destruction of bridges on the Danube River.
As of December 2014, the debt for building the barges was over EUR 7 million and around EUR 2 of interest.
“After long talks Ukrainian Danube Navigation managed to arrange the reduction of the debt by 90% in 2015 with BAWAG leasing GmbH and Österreichische Kontrollbank AG (OeKB) acted as a guarantor of the Austrian government. The debt was cut to EUR 1.5 million if it is paid under the schedule before November 30, 2016,” the company said.
The debt was settled on November 24, and on December 13, 60 barges were transferred to ownership of Ukrainian Danube Navigation in Vienna.
Ukrainian Danube Navigation performs over 30% of the transportation on the Danube River. The company’s fleet includes nearly 400 self-propelled and towed river vessels, and 30 seagoing vessels.
KYIV. Dec 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – European Travel Insurance (ERV, Kyiv) has signed an agreement with PrivatBank to provide travel insurance services to holders of bank cards, the insurance company has said in a press release.
Under the agreement the insurer has been providing the possibility of getting a one-year travel policy when clients register payment cards for the clients and their families since December 2016.
“Ten insurance programs with various insurance coverage sums will be offered to clients of PrivatBank – from basic Classic that includes mandatory insurance for people travelling abroad to the Diamond premium package covering over 45 risks, including the cancelation of a trip, delay of flights, loss of luggage and other risks each traveller can face before and during his or her trip,” Sales Department Head Oleksandr Vishtaliuk said.
The company said that insurance sums depend on the program and vary from EUR 30,000 to EUR 100,000. Programs for children of card holders and relatives aged under 80 are foreseen.
Insurance programs are effective in all countries, apart from Ukraine during one year if the length of each trip does not exceed 60 days. All insurance programs cover urgent medical care, in-patient and out-patient treatment, repatriation. Euro-Center Holding SE assistance company provides for 24-hour assistance to the client if insurance events occur.
ERV Board Chairman Myroslav Boichyn said that personal insurance companies would allow expanding the range of services for the clients of the bank and will stimulate them to use banking cards more actively.
ERV was founded in 2006. It is a leading company on the Ukrainian tourist insurance market.
KYIV. Dec 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement with the European Commission on financing the annual program on nuclear safety 2015, according to the governmental online portal.
The corresponding decision is stipulated in government resolution No. 1001-r dated December 21, 2016.
According to the press service of the government, the budget foreseen by the agreement is EUR4.5 million.
The program is aimed at streamlining Ukrainian and European legal framework, providing technical support for the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine.
KYIV. Dec 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on December 26 signed an agreement with Electroavtotrans (Ivano-Frankivsk) municipal public transport operator providing a loan of up to EUR 8 million for the acquisition of 35 new low-deck trolleybuses, the rehabilitation and modernization of a trolleybus depot and the extension of the existing electric transport network, the press service of the EBRD has reported.
“The EBRD is extending more resources to support the renewal of rolling stock in municipalities across Ukraine in the context its Ukraine Public Transport Framework. The latest project under the facility, which was approved in 2015 and designed to help replace ageing municipal transport infrastructure, is a loan of up to EUR 8 million to Electroavtotrans, the municipal public transport operator in the western Ukrainian municipality of Ivano-Frankivsk,” the bank said.
The loan will be supported by a grant of up to EUR 1 million by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund.
“The new trolley buses, which will be purchased in 2017 following a transparent procurement process, will be 25 per cent more efficient than the current ones, most of which have reached the stage of full depreciation. The new fleet will also be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly,” the bank said.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost EUR 12 billion through 369 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.
