KYIV. Sept 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv-based state-run Antonov enterprise and Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AICC) have signed an agreement on cooperation under the An-225 Mriya aircraft program, the Ukrainian company’s press service has said.
“The parties have expressed their intention to cooperate in the long-term outlook, which foresees the construction of the second example of the modernized An-225 Mriya aircraft at the Antonov enterprise and its delivery to AICC at the first stage and the establishment of the joint batch manufacture of An-225 in China under Antonov’s license at the second stage,” the company said in a statement.
“Both stages will be implemented on conditions of separate contracts,” the press service said.
The agreement was signed in Beijing, China, on August 30, 2016.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya is the longest and heaviest aircraft ever built. It is 84 meters long and weighs 175 tonnes without fuel. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes, including crew, and its wingspan is an astonishing 88.4 meters.
The An-225 was built in the 1980s to transport the Soviet space shuttle, the Buran, and it made its maiden test flight in 1988. The single example built has the Ukrainian civil registration UR-82060. In spring 2001, it was retrofitted and its commercial operation was launched by Antonov Airlines.
The construction of the second example began in 1987, but only fuselage and a wing were built when the Soviet Union broke up and the aircraft construction was frozen.
At different stages, Ukraine’s foreign partners showed interest in the completion of the second plane, but the plans did not get practical implementation.
KYIV. Sept 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said that the launch of the electronic declaration of government officials’ assets is another important step in creating a new, modern structure in the struggle against corruption in Ukraine.
“Without a doubt, the launch of the electronic declaration is a revolutionary step that will forever divide the civil service system into “before” and “after” its introduction,” Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday after the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection issued a compliance certificate of complex information protection system of a single registry of electronic declarations and NACP had approved the launch of the registry of electronic declarations on September 1, 2016.
“Moreover, I consider myself one of the authors of this system. And it took a lot of effort for me to convince (parliament) deputies, factions leaders to support its creation, and then coordinate the technology in every detail with our European partners,” the president of Ukraine wrote.
He also noted that “he had to intervene in overcoming technical problems and take full system start under his personal control two weeks ago.”
Ukrainian President thanked everyone involved in the system start-up.
“We are taking another important step in creating a new modern structure in the fight against corruption, and that is important – in the design of preventive mechanisms,” Poroshenko said.
KYIV. Aug 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Framshipping, part of Grain Capital group, has offered Chornomorsk seaport (Odesa region) an investment project with an annual increase in cargo handling by 14 million tonnes.
The port’s press service said, with reference to Framshipping Deputy Director Dmytro Balzhik, the company sees the opportunity in five or six years to increase the port’s capacity by about 14 million tonnes per year.
The investor would rent warehouse No. 11 with the aim to build a universal complex for transshipment of goods on its base. It will include a grain elevator of about 5.5 million tonnes of grain per year, bringing the amount to 8 million tonnes, a complex for handling vegetable oils, which will be designed for a certain circle of cargo owners, which are in contact with Framshipping: they intend to carry up to 2 million tonnes of oil per year.
It is also envisaged to create a complex for stuffing containers, improving the performance up to 500 containers per day, a complex for transshipment of packaged goods (cereals, flour), a complex for transshipment of general freight. Its work will start from handling 4.7 million tonnes with a view to reach 6 million tonnes per year.
KYIV. Aug 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Agroton agricultural group (Luhansk region) in January-June 2016 posted $5.187 million in net profit against $18.227 million of net loss in the same period last year.
According to a group report on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), its revenues in the period declined by 2.9%, to $17.349 million. However, due to $7.753 million income from revaluation of biological assets its gross profit increased to $9.036 million from $315,000.
The group’s profit from other operating activities in the reporting period decreased significantly – by 2.34 times, to $1.063 million, while other operating expenses grew to $1.302 million from $55,000.
However, the final financial result was mainly influenced by the reduction in financial expenses by 5.45 times, to $3.946 million by reducing the loss from forex exchange differences to $3.169 million from $20.863 million.
Agroton has been working in Ukraine since 1992. It specializes in growing grains and oilseeds, production and sales of livestock products. Agroton’s land bank is about 150,000 ha. It is located in Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. The group owns two poultry farms in Luhansk region.
KYIV. Aug 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, the Energy Ministry of Kazakhstan and Kazakh National Nuclear Company Kazatomprom have agreed to establish a joint venture (JV) for uranium mining in both countries, Ukrainian Energy Minister Ihor Nasalyk has said, commenting on the results of his visit to Kazakhstan in mid-August.
“Kazakhstan has the best desalination technology in uranium mining. We’ve agreed that they will create a joint venture and begin to work on our deposits. They will give one deposit in the territory of Kazakhstan to the joint enterprise,” he said on the air of TV Channel 112.
Nasalyk said the cost of uranium ore in Kazakhstan is $30 per tonne, while Ukraine buys 1,500 tonnes per year at $120 per tonne.
The Ukrainian minister said Kazakhstan is ready to buy about 750 tonnes of ion exchange resin from Nuclear Fuel state enterprise.
According to him, Kazakhstan also invited Ukraine to join the construction of a plant for production of fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants, which would become an alternative to Russia’s TVEL.
KYIV. Aug 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The interagency targeted center, established with the aim of overcoming corruption at customs, started work under the Finance Ministry of Ukraine on August 29, while its mobile customs groups will start work in early September, according to the ministry’s website.
“The first ten mobile teams will travel to their bases for rapid response to offenses in the beginning of September. It is expected it will be in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Zakarpattia and Volyn regions. A little bit later, another ten teams will start work in the border areas,” head of the interagency targeted center Oleksandr Vlasov said.
The report notes in order to reduce corruption risks the principle of staff rotation will be used: the composition of mobile groups will change on a monthly basis in compliance with a certain number of representatives of different structures (two people from the State Fiscal Service, one person from the State Border Guard Service and the National Police).
The ministry noted the interagency targeted center would be engaged in constant coordination of 20 joint mobile groups to prevent and detect violations of the law on state customs.
