KYIV. July 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Du Wei have discussed practical issues on fostering trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The government’s press service reported on Monday that Groysman called for strengthening trade and economic relations, cooperation in the industrial sector, as well as in the investment area.
“We are interested in attracting Chinese investment into Ukraine,” he said.
Groysman said that the Office for Accompanying Investment under auspice of the Prime Minister will be created soon.
“Discussing the issue of full restoration of existing institutional mechanisms of bilateral cooperation, the sides agreed to hold a meeting of the Intergovernmental Trade and Economic Commission by the end of 2016 in Kyiv. Under the proposal of Groysman, a Ukrainian-Chinese business forum will be organized in the framework of this Commission,” the press service said.
Groysman said that “a well prepared session of the Intergovernmental Commission and the business forum could provide the necessary results aimed at enhancing economic cooperation.”
The Ukrainian Prime Minister and the Chinese Ambassador also expressed their support for approving a Ukraine-China Action Plan (the road map) on the joint implementation of the idea to launch the economic belt of the Silk Road as soon as possible.
The prime minister stressed the need to find solutions to the problems in cooperation between the two countries.
Du Wei assured of the willingness of China to develop and deepen cooperation with Ukraine as the strategic character of relations between the two countries requires.
KYIV. July 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Ukrtelecom saw a 1.1% rise in revenue in January-June 2016 year-over-year, to UAH 3.35 billion, the operator said in a report published at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
The company’s net profit in H1 2016 totaled UAH 178 million and this was 26% up year-over-year.
Capital investment grew by 72%, to UAH 113.2 billion, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) – by 2.4%, to UAH 969.6 million. EBITDA margin was up by 0.3 percentage points, to 28.9%.
Total revenue in Q2 2016 slightly fell year-over-year – by 0.5%, to UAH 1.637 billion.
EBITDA in Q2 2016 decreased by 6.3% year-over-year, to UAH 469 million. EBITDA margin decreased by 1.8 percentage points, to 29%.
Ukrtelecom Director Yuriy Kurmiz said at a press conference that in 2016 the company’s revenue from telecom services continue growing. Services worth UAH 950 million were provided to private users and worth UAH 311 million to business consumers, which is 4% and 5% up year-over-year.
Revenue from services provided to operators decreased by 21%, to UAH 234 million. This is linked to the market trends and the reduction of the voice traffic volumes.
Revenue from fixed communications grew by 1.6%, to UAH 805.4 million. Revenue from Internet access and data transfer grew by 11%, to UAH 404 million.
In Q2 2016, the operator paid almost UAH 440 million of taxes and duties to the budgets of all levels.
Ukrtelecom is the largest fixed communications operator in the country. Ultimate owner of Ukrtelecom is SCM Group of businessman Rinat Akhmetov.
KYIV. July 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv medical institutions by the beginning of 2016 have saved UAH 25.6 million, or 20.77%, on trades conducted through the ProZorro e-procurement system, according to a press release of Transparency International Ukraine.
According to the organization, since the beginning of 2016 the Kyiv medical institutions have conducted 4,109 tenders, the total amount of contracts signed was UAH 53.8 million. The average number of proposals per procedure is 2.74.
At the same time, activists point out that the Kyiv medical institutions conduct non-transparent procurement and find ways to circumvent the system of ProZorro electronic procurement.
According to non-governmental organizations cited in the press release, 13.8% of procurements made by hospitals in Kyiv are non-transparent. According to data that can be explored through the bi.prozorro internal system, 79% of purchases have low quality ads, and 72.5% low competitive activity.
According to Head of the Eidos Anti-Corruption Center Hlib Kanevsky, hospital procurements often contain a vague description of the purchase items, documents required at the time of filing the bid are missing, as well as the terms of suppliers.
KYIV. July 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers intends to launch an online system to monitor the implementation of the government’s action program.
“We will launch a system, a new online system of monitoring the execution of the government’s action program by the ministries, it will be completely accessible to every ministry and this would mean that the internal control system, which has already been developed and will be introduced in the next few days, allows every minister to see the progress of the tasks entrusted to the ministry,” Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said at a cabinet meeting.
The premier believes that such monitoring will help understand where the problems appear and solve them.
Groysman stressed the government’s action program is not populist but quite pragmatic.
KYIV. July 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – HP Tech Ventures created in May 2016 by HP Inc, the world leader in personal computers, as well as, consumer and commercial printing, has become a member of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA).
The association said in a press release that HP Tech Ventures invests globally in early-stage companies where HP can provide strategic value: 3D Printing, IoT, Immersive (VR, AR, and HCI), and Smart Machines (Robotics and AI).
“We hope that due to our cooperation it will find interesting startups to invest exactly in Ukraine — especially now there is a wide range of projects: over 2,500 startups in our country, and the number is growing,” UVCA Executive Director Olha Afanasieva said.
A representative of HP Tech Ventures Vitaliy Holomb said that the fund expects great things from Ukraine’s massive pool of engineering talent.
“We expect great things from Ukraine’s massive pool of engineering talent and are doing our part to help foster innovation while providing a bridge to Silicon Valley,” he said.
Ukrainian companies have attracted more foreign investors last year without losing interest at the local market. About half of the deals (48%) in 2015 (according to UVCA Private Equity and Venture Capital Overview) have been closed with the participation of international funds.
“This fact demonstrates interest of international partners in Ukraine, and shows the recognition of Ukrainian startups on the global market,” the association said.
UVCA was founded in August 2014. The initiators of the association were Andriy Kolodiuk and Merilo. Today 1,200 investment companies, institutional investors and market players, including Horizon Capital, KM Core, AVentures, Intel Capital, SCM, Vostok Ventures, Capital Times, the Warsaw Stock Exchange and other international investors, are association members. The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are partners of the association.
KYIV. July 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine since the start of 2016/17 agricultural year (July-June) as of July 22, 2016 had exported 1.44 million tonnes of grain, the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has reported.
Grain exports reached some 297,000 tonnes of wheat, 760,000 tonnes of barley and 386,000 tonnes of corn, the ministry said.
Some 8,300 tonnes of wheat flour was exported.
As reported, referring to the ministry, Ukraine in 2015/16 agri-year exported 39.487 million tonnes of grain, and this was 13.5% up on the previous season.
