KYIV. Sept 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a loan of up to EUR 1.4 million to support resource and energy efficiency improvements at Khask Group, a Ukrainian manufacturer of flexible packaging materials, the EBRD said in a press release on Friday.
Khask, where the bank is a shareholder, will also become the first domestic beneficiary of the Bank’s Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) program through a grant for the implementation of a solvent recovery system, which will help remove impurities from used chemicals.
The investment will finance the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment that will allow Khask to implement its modernization program, which aims to reduce the use of energy and solvents and achieve a subsequent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
In particular, solvent recovery systems, together with additional energy efficiency measures, will help Khask save up to 350,000 m3 of natural gas per year and avoid annual emissions of up to 2,900 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
In 2016, Ukraine became a member of the EBRD’s FINTECC program, which is designed to transfer technology in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation. It successfully operates in 14 countries where the EBRD invests.
The three-year program is supported by $7 million of grant funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and a EUR 4 million grant from the EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF).
In addition, Khask has benefited from support through the EBRD Small Business Impact Fund, which, with financial support from the United States, has provided $2 million to moderate the risks of EBRD investment in Ukraine and enable wider lending.
Khask Group is a Kharkiv-based Ukrainian company and one of the leading regional producers of high-quality flexible plastic packaging materials and self-adhesive tapes. The EBRD became a shareholder of the firm in 2011.
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 368 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.
KYIV. Sept 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine should study the possibility of exporting blood preparations to India, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said.
“When we speak about cooperation in the pharmaceutical sphere, we always speak about imports of drugs from India. However, look at blood preparations: India does not have them. This is a possibility of supplying preparations to India,” she said at the Ukraine-India roundtable in the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on Friday.
She also said that technologies could be also exported from Ukraine to India, in particular, IT products.
In turn, Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Olha Trofimtseva said that development of exports of from Ukraine to India leguminous crops would allow speaking not only about exports of raw materials, but also exports of finished products.
KYIV. Sept 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) plans to attract a large operator to implement an investment project of a large logistics center.
According to the press service of the airport, it is planned to allocate a significant territory in the second flight zone for building a center for processing aviation cargo.
“Creating a high-tech cargo hub of the European level is one of the tasks of the incumbent management of the state-owned enterprise,” the report says.
At present the volume of cargo handling at Boryspil is insignificant – about 80 tonnes per day. Part of profit from freight handling does not exceed 2% of income from other activities. One of the main factors affecting this trend is the low solvency of Ukraine’s population.
One of the options as an investor is considered Airport Kyiv Cargo, which carries out freight transportation by road.
KYIV. Sept 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Manoj Kumar Bharti has called on Ukrainian farmers to export lentil to India.
“In 2015, Canada exported 500,000 tonnes of lentil to India. If Canada can export lentil, why not Ukraine export it?” he said at a roundtable in the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv on Friday.
“India’s population is mainly vegetarians, and lentil for them is the main source of protein,” he said.
The ambassador also called on Ukrainian educational institutions to open their branches in India, as India needs skilled specialists.
He pointed out the potential of Ukrainian engineering in India.
“I recently returned from Lviv where I visited Elektronmash. This company has a huge potential in India where transport corridors are being actively developed,” he said.
The ambassador mentioned traditional cooperation in the aviation and space sectors.
“I would like Ukraine attentively studies the opportunities for cooperation with India. We are ready to provide consultations and tell how develop business in India,” he said.
He also focused on the potential of cooperation in the pharmaceutical and medical spheres.
“Complicated surgeries in India are cheaper than in Europe,” he said.
KYIV. Sept 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Institute for Strategic Studies will be the key executor of works as part of drafting Ukraine’s energy strategy until 2035, the press service of Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has reported.
“The management committee for coordination of designing the draft revised energy strategy of Ukraine until 2035 discussed some procedural issues on September 13. The committee approved the National Institute for Strategic Studies as the key executor of works,” the ministry said.
As reported, on September 2, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman at a meeting with European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said that Ukraine is finishing its energy strategy.
