KYIV. Nov 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have discussed stepping up trade, economic and investment cooperation, participation in the privatization process and resumption of air travel during an official visit of Poroshenko to Ljubljana.
“The Ukrainian president noted the interest of Ukraine in enhancing trade-economic and investment cooperation with Slovenia. The parties noted that the DCFTA between Ukraine and the EU opened new opportunities for that,” the press service of the head of state reported.
Poroshenko invited Slovenian companies to join privatization in Ukraine.
The parties agreed to promptly complete procedures necessary for the restoration of direct air connection between the countries.
Poroshenko expressed gratitude to the Slovenian government for the provision of TV and radio broadcasting equipment and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine due to the aggression of Russia in Donbas.
“The parties agreed to implement projects on demining and protection of civilians in Donbas within the International Trust Fund to enhance human security. For this end, the intergovernmental agreement in the sphere of mine action will be concluded,” the press service said.
The prime minister of Slovenia expressed full support for the provision of the visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the EU. He praised the progress of Ukraine in the implementation of reforms in the economy.
BAKU. Nov 8 (Interfax) – The prime ministers of the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) Organization for Democracy and Economic Development are due to discuss transport corridors and a free trade zone, GUAM Secretary General Altai Efendiyev told Interfax.
“Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has initiated a meeting of GUAM prime ministers in Kyiv to focus on the implementation of a transport corridor and the completion of procedures, which will start up a free trade zone between our states,” Efendiyev said.
A business forum will be held on the sidelines of the prime ministers’ meeting, he said.
“The Kazakh head of government has also been invited to the meeting of the prime ministers, which means this meeting will be held in the GUAM+ format. We think this is necessary because the logical continuation of this route will make sense,” Efendiyev said.
Ukrainian commodities should reach consumers in the East, while cargo traffic from the East, including Central Asia, should reach European markets, he said.
“We are actually setting the task to reanimate transport corridors through a major project incorporating the interests of practically all countries, including China and European nations. If we manage to make this project attractive and competitive through joint efforts, it can become a foundation of stable and safe economic cooperation in the highly unstable and unpredictable region,” the GUAM secretary general said.
The project is highly important for the Visegrad Group and the Baltic countries, he said. “The Baltic Council has shown interest in the possibility to connect the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. This idea has been discussed for a long time and it is very close to coming true,” Efendiyev said.
In his words, GUAM has been closely interacting with Washington and Tokyo in the GUAM+ U.S. and GUAM+ Japan formats.
“We are eyeing Poland and the Czech Republic as partners in particular projects, and we are also interested in cooperation with the Visegrad Group,” the GUAM secretary general said.
Back on January 15, 2016, the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry jointly with Ukrzaliznytsia organized the demonstration trip of a container train along the new Silk Road, from Ukraine to China through Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (via the Caspian and Black Seas). It took the train 16 days to reach China early in the morning of January 31.
KYIV. Nov 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine as of November 4 had threshed 55.9 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops from 12.8 million hectares (90% of the forecast), whereas a year ago as of November 3 it collected 55.6 million tonnes from 13.3 million hectares (95% of the forecast).
According to the press service of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, this year the average yield of cereals rose to 43.5 centners per ha from 40.2 centners per ha last year.
Corn harvest from 2.8 million hectares (67% of the forecast) amounted to 16.9 million tonnes, the yield increased to 59.7 centners/ha from 53.4 centners/ha.
Buckwheat was collected from 148,000 ha (99%) in the amount of 189,000 tonnes compared to 141,000 tonnes past year, in particular due to the rise in yield from 11.4 centners/ha to 12.7 centners/ha.
Millet was harvested from 103,000 ha in the amount of 187,000 tonnes (98%), whereas in the past year the country harvested 210,000 tonnes of this crop due to a higher yield (20 centners/ha against 18.2 centners/ha this year).
The country is continuing to harvest sunflower: with the forecast being 5.9 million hectares the crop has been harvested from an area of 5.7 million hectares (96%) in the amount of 12.6 million tonnes. Its yield rose to 22.2 centners/ha compared to 21.4 centners/ha last year, when farmers harvested 10.6 million tonnes.
The harvest of soybeans by November 4 amounted to 3.7 million tonnes from 1.6 million hectares (90% of the forecast) with a substantial increase in yield to 22.4 centners/ha from 17.3 centners/ha last season, when the figure stood at 3.5 million tonnes.
KYIV. Nov 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s First Lady, Board Chair of Petro Poroshenko Charity Foundation, Maryna Poroshenko, and Chairman of the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce Lu Jianzhong have signed a grant agreement worth $200,000 (approximately UAH 5.2 million) for the development of inclusive secondary education in Ukraine, the Ukrainian presidential administration’s press service reported.
According to Poroshenko, there are around 7 million children, of whom about 700,000 have mental and physical development disorders. “At the same time we have a very disappointing statistics: only 10% of them are trained in inclusive schools, and the rest are left outside socialization and fulfilling family life,” she said.
“The grant money from China will be assigned for the development of the scientific and teaching experiment, which Maryna Poroshenko together with the Education and Science Ministry of Ukraine are implementing in Zaporizhia region in 2016-2019. At the moment, out of 600 schools in the region, only 51 are inclusive… The key prospect of the project lies in the fact that after three years this groundwork will become the basis of a roadmap for the introduction of inclusive education in all the regions of Ukraine,” reads a statement on the presidential administration’s website.
KYIV. Nov 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – China is interested in placing its production at Ukrainian industrial parks and has already provided the Ukrainian side with the corresponding plan of cooperation, Vice President of the China International Chamber of Commerce Lu Jianzhong has said.
“We see that the investment climate in Ukraine, as well as relations between Ukraine and China are improving. We hope that we will be able to take part in the development of industrial parks and attract Chinese investment via the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. We have provided our comments and our cooperation plan as for industrial parks to Ukraine. Ukraine is studying them,” he said at the Ukrainian Silk Road forum in Kyiv.
He did not specify what kind of proposals have been provided to the Ukrainian side, but stressed the Chinese business in “very interested” in Ukrainian industrial parks.
Trade representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska, in turn, during the forum said Ukraine will attract Chinese investors, demonstrating the benefits of free trade with the EU, Canada, the CIS, the EFTA countries and others.
“Ukraine can become a place of goods production with the participation of Chinese investments, know-how and technology for the delivery to a number of markets, with which Ukraine has free trade agreements. Ukraine could become a manufacturing hub for Chinese investors to produce their goods here and deliver them to the EU market and back to China,” she said.
KYIV. Nov 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Germany will give Ukraine EUR 72 million in new aid for sustainable economic development, regional development, energy efficiency and internally displaced persons, Ukraine’s Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister has said Maksym Nefyodov has said.
According to his statement on Facebook, Nefyodov signed relevant documents in Berlin on Friday on the results of two-day talks with the Economic Cooperation and Development Ministry of Germany.
The deputy minister specified that this aid will be also aimed at strengthening local government, support of the united territorial communities, assistance to small and medium-sized businesses and modernization of energy consumption.
Director of International Programs Coordination Department of Ukraine’s Economy Ministry Olena Trehub, who participated in the talks, explained that at the moment the amount of funds provided by Germany as non-repayable assistance to Ukraine rose to EUR 325 million from EUR 20 million before the Revolution of Dignity.
