KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and Turkey intend to increase goods turnover in the category of agricultural products in the coming years in view of the forthcoming agreement on a free trade area (FTA).
“I hope that our trade volumes will double in the near future,” Deputy Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey Mehmet Danis said during the Ukrainian-Turkish agricultural business forum in Kyiv.
According to him, over the past 13 years agricultural production in Turkey was steadily growing. Now exports of agricultural products from the country stand at $17 billion, while imports of agricultural products at $11 billion. Turkey delivers 1,600 items of agricultural goods to 192 countries.
“Ukraine is the second country in terms of cooperation in agriculture… Negotiations on the FTA will finish and our trade relations will gain a new impetus,” the Turkish official said.
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food for European Integration Olha Trofimtseva at the forum said trade turnover in agriculture between Ukraine and Turkey in 2015 was about $1 billion, over the ten months of 2016 some $700 million.
“Turkey ranks seventh among the importers of Ukrainian agricultural products and third among the countries exporting agricultural products to Ukraine following Germany and Poland,” she said.
KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – ESTA Holding, the managing company of ESTA Group, established by CJSC System Capital Management (SCM, Donetsk), on November 28 opened the eight-storey Central Department Store (TsUM) with a total leasable area of 23,500 square meters after reconstruction.
“Today a new, European period of the Central Department Store begins. Our goal was not only to make TsUM store No.1 in Ukraine but also put it in one line with the leading classical department stores of European cities. We focused on Selfridges in London, Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Kaldewei in Berlin,” ESTA Holding CEO Maksym Hromadtsov said during a press conference devoted to the official opening of the department store.
According to him, due to the difficult economic situation in the country the payback period since the launch almost doubled.
The Central Department Store building was completely rebuilt, while its historic facade was preserved, and inside a new center was built in the format of a conventional department store with a wide range of products organized on the principle of specialized departments in the same service area.
The peculiarity of TsUM will be the availability of common cash desks and fitting rooms at all the levels, open planning and a minimum of partitions.
KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – PJSC Sumy machine building plant has signed a contract for the supply of four adsorbers to large petrochemical complex OJSC Naftan (Belarus), the press service of the enterprise has said.
Naftan will use the adsorbers, whose value is not disclosed, for modernization of the dehumidification system. They are vertical capacitive devices with elliptic bottoms, equipped with strainers, whose main task is to prevent ingress of adsorbent particles into the air.
The equipment should be delivered to the customer in April 2017.
According to the report, Sumy plant has been cooperating with Naftan for many years, regularly supplying heat transfer equipment, spare parts for piston compressors.
Sumy plant is one of Europe’s largest producers of gas pumping units and compressor stations for different purposes, a wide range of pumps, compressors, centrifuges, equipment for chemical, gas and petrochemical industry, nuclear power plants.
KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Sweden’s Foreign Affairs Minister Margot Elisabeth Wallström have discussed cooperation on waste recycling, ecology and decentralization.
The press service of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers said during the meeting between the officials on Monday Groysman thanked Sweden for systemic assistance in the foreign policy arena and for helping Ukraine to transform its economic and financial sectors.
Sweden has been implementing a number of programs needed in Ukraine, including in the sphere of decentralization, energy conservation, in addition to providing humanitarian assistance to the population in eastern Ukraine, Groysman said.
“Speaking about the possibility of intensifying cooperation, the Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Wallström expressed willingness to cooperate with Ukraine in the spheres of ecology, including waste recycling, as well as decentralization,” the press service said.
In addition, the Ukrainian prime minister said it is necessary to complete ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. He called on the EU to finish all necessary internal procedures to introduce the EU visa-free regime for Ukrainians.
Ukraine’s PM called for keeping sanctions against the Russian Federation, saying the issue was “of global importance.” “If we lift sanctions, it will encourage the aggressor to become even more belligerent,” Groysman said.
Wallström said Sweden is prepared to continue supporting Ukraine and would continue to support sanctions against Russia.
KYIV. Nov 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia in the ten months of 2016 increased grain transportation by 12.6% compared to the same period of 2015, but complains about delays in grain wagon return on the part of grain shippers.
According to a company press release, the company will be able to significantly increase grain handling if grain shippers reduce the circulation of grain wagons and stop delaying cars under loading operations.
“Thus, more than 500 loaded grain cars have accumulated only at two port stations in Odesa region – Illichivsk and Kseniyeve,” Ukrzaliznytsia said.
KYIV. Nov 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv-based Ukreximbank is actively preparing a new project jointly with the World Bank on providing access to long-term loans to Ukrainian export oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), according to a posting on the Ukreximbank’s website.
“The Long Term Finance Project (ALTF) Project will provide long term investment and working capital finance to Ukrainian export oriented SME,” the bank said.
Ukreximbank will act as the direct borrower of the World Bank funds and the implementing agency of ALTF Project. Ukrainian commercial banks are expected to be involved in the ALTF Project implementation as financial intermediaries.
All sub-projects financed under the ALTF Project will be subject to an environmental and social assessment of compliance with the Ukrainian and World Bank environmental regulations utilizing the procedures described in Ukreximbank’s Environmental and Social Management Framework.
After drawing up the ALTF Project jointly with Ukrainian governmental authorities, it will be presented to the World Bank Board of Executive Directors for consideration and approval by the end of the first quarter 2017.
