Philip Morris Ukraine, one of the largest tobacco producers in Ukraine, in February 2018 started shipments of Kharkiv Tobacco Factory’s products to Hong Kong.
“Now the Philip Morris Ukraine products made at the tobacco factory in Kharkiv region are sold in 13 countries, including Japan, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Albania, Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Persian Gulf. Since February 2018, we have been manufacturing products for the duty free zone in Hong Kong, having started with one SKU [stock keeping unit] – Virginia,” Philip Morris Ukraine Director for Corporate Affairs in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova Nataliya Bondarenko said at the third Kharkiv Investment Forum.
According to her, more than 40% of the company’s cigarettes are exported.
“Philip Morris Ukraine’s tobacco factory produces not only cigarettes, but also shredded tobacco, filters for other factories in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the European Union for export,” Bondarenko said.
Over $117 million has been invested in the construction and modernization of the factory, she said. At present, the production facility located on 32 hectares has a full production cycle and its design capacity exceeds 30 billion cigarettes a year.
“With the assistance of the government and the creation of the necessary conditions for business development, we can produce 20-30% more, developing at the international level as an export hub. Philip Morris Ukraine has temporarily suspended the development of export capacities in connection with a trial related to UAH 635 million,” she said.
Court proceedings were launched in May 2016 after the company’s tax dispute with the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, which accuses the company of violations in imports of raw materials and exports of cigarettes, as well as of the illegal use of the Marlboro trademark.
U.S. Agency for International Development USAID has provided the Pension Fund of Ukraine with an Oracle server system worth $1 million, which will improve the operational work of the fund. The U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch announced the transfer and purchase of the Oracle system of the unified Oracle SuperCluster M8 system at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
“I am officially handing over this system,” she said.
After that, Yovanovitch handed the certificate to head of the Pension Fund Board Oleksiy Zarudny.
According to the ambassador, this equipment will allow to optimize and improve the operational work of the Pension Fund of Ukraine.
Yovanovitch noted that the trust in the pension system is the most important in carrying out this reform.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in February 2018 amounted to $457 million, while in January 2018 it was $284.1 million, the State Statistics Service has said. In January-February 2018, the deficit totaled $741.1 million compared with the deficit of $491.4 million a year ago.
In January-February 2018 exports of goods amounted to $7.4 billion, imports to $8.1 billion. In comparison with January-February 2017, exports increased by 17.9%, imports by 20.3%.
In February 2018, the seasonally adjusted volumes of exports fell by 3.6% and imports by 6.6%. The seasonally adjusted deficit of foreign trade in February 2018 was $356.4 million. In January 2018, the deficit was $517.4 million.
As a result, the ratio of coverage of imports by exports was 0.91 (in January-February 2017 some 0.93).
The statistics service said foreign trade operations were conducted with partners from 201 countries.
The Odrex medical house (Odesa) under an agreement on supply of comprehensive solutions in the healthcare sphere with the largest global company designing medical technologies Medtronic has opened the Odrex heart clinic. “Today we are opening the first private heart clinic in Ukraine, which is a significant event for the Odrex medical house and, we think, for the whole medicine [in Ukraine]. We attach great hopes to this project,” Odrex Executive Director Tigran Harutyunyan said during the opening of the medical institution on Thursday, April 12.
In turn, Medtronic Director for Emerging East Stefan Linder said, commenting on his discovery, that the main goal of the partnership agreement between Odrex and Medtronic, within which the clinic received innovative equipment, was to expand access to high-quality therapies and to improve the quality of medical services.
The hospital has two X-ray operating rooms and one operating room for open heart interventions.
Among the equipment presented in the clinic is the first in Ukraine and the seventh in the world apparatus of artificial circulation, developed by NASA engineers (provided by Medtronic), the first cryoablator in the country, providing low-temperature elimination of atrial fibrillation, a device for 4D-ultrasound examination of the heart in real time, allowing substantial reduce the time to establish an accurate diagnosis of the patient, as well as a device of flowmetry, which reveals the passability of the operated vessel during the operation, which is considerably reduces the risk of postoperative complications, Chief Doctor of the Heart Clinic Denys Sebov said.
At the same time, he said that at present a part of the equipment is being certified and all other relevant procedures necessary for its importation into Ukraine.
In the clinic, a technique for testing the quality of aortocoronary cardiosurgical operations has been introduced.
Sebov said that among the innovations for Ukraine in the Heart Clinic is a special team of doctors – the heart team: a cardiologist, a cardio-surgeon and an interventional cardiologist. This allows you to carefully approach the choice of the optimal method of treatment, as well as, if necessary, to resort to hybrid methods.
“We hope that we will be able to reduce the level of 15-20% in-hospital mortality compared with the average Ukrainian indicators, which, respectively, reduce the mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the region. We expect a reduction in mortality of 10-15%,” Sebov said.
In turn, Deputy Health Minister Pavlo Kovtoniuk expressed the hope that the reform of the system of financing healthcare services from the state budget in time would allow paying for healthcare services using the budget also in these private specialized medical institutions.
In addition, at present Odrex created its own insurance company, as well as an ambulance service, which will begin work in June.
In general, the capacity of the center allows serving about 4,500 patients per year. An increase in the number of interventions to this level is planned by 2023. The first surgery will be performed at the clinic on April 26.
In 2018, the clinic plans to serve about 1,000 patients.
Representatives of Ectar United Trading Company (Saudi Arabia) have visited Novokramatorsky Mashinostroitelny Zavod (NKMZ, Donetsk region), a leading heavy engineering enterprise in Ukraine, with the purpose of establishing technical and technology partnership in the sphere of foundry engineering.
NKMZ said in a press release that the representatives of Ectar United Trading visited metallurgical and machine workshops, studied automated forging complexes and processing units in engineering shops.
“The guests also paid attention to the reducing gear workshop, which is one of the best not only in the company, but also in Europe. In the end, they were impressed by the condition of the shops that underwent ergonomic reconstruction, the culture of production and the quality of products. We hope for the continuation of contacts for the establishment of partnership,” the NKMZ said.
The press service of the plant also informs that NKMZ for the eighth time took part in the largest exhibition of Uzbekistan – the ninth International Industrial Forum UzbekistanIndustrial Forum 2018.
“NKMZ has been cooperating with Uzbekistan for nearly 60 years. Rotor complexes, walking excavators, mixer-converters for non-ferrous metals and a quarto mill have been delivered to Uzbekistan., NKMZ supplied 50 ore-grinding mills only to Navoi MMC in 1992-2008,” the press service said.
At the UzbekistanIndustrial 2018, Uzbek industrialists were interested in NKMZ’s ore-grinding equipment, as well as in the capabilities of tunneling combines.
Lozova Machinery (the brand of soil-cultivating agricultural machinery manufactured by the enterprises of UPEC industrial group, Kharkiv region) has signed a dealer contract with PMT d.o.o., a leading distribution company of Croatia, the Ukrainian company has said in a press release.
The contract was signed after Lozova Machinery’s debut participation in the Bjelovar Fair held from April 6 to April 8, 2018 in the Croatian city of Bjelovar.
“Within long-term cooperation, along with purchase of our equipment, this year PMT d.o.o. plans to conduct a number of demonstrations of the Dukat disc harrow directly in the field, so that farmers can be convinced of the energy efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of our equipment,” the press service said, citing Foreign Sales Director Eduard Chudopalov.
According to him, Lozova Machinery became the only Ukrainian company at the East European exhibition and aroused great interest of the agrarians of this country.
The company reminded that this year in support of green technologies during the Greentour the company plans to demonstrate its soil-cultivating equipment in 20 countries, taking part in more than 100 events – exhibitions, Days of Field and demo tours.
