KYIV. June 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) Liubomyr Sabadosh during his working visit to Brussels held talks with leaders of the European Parliament (EP) and discussed the possibility of supporting promising joint projects between Ukraine and the EU countries in aerospace by European politicians.
The SSAU press service reported that Ukraine’s participation in space projects being implemented as part of the space programs of the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA) was discussed at a meeting of Sabadosh with Vice-President of the European Parliament Ryszard Czarnecki.
Sabadosh pointed out the expansion of the current agenda of the dialog between the Ukrainian space agency and the ESA and space agencies of the EU countries. He expressed hope that the European Parliament would back initiatives of the Ukrainian space sector: this would help to realize the potential of partnership between Ukraine and the EU states in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, he said.
The press service said that during his visit to Brussels, Sabadosh also met Anna Fotyga, Chair of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence of the European Parliament, Jacqueline Foster, Vice-President of the Sky & Space Parliamentary Intergroup and Karol Karski, Quaestor of the European Parliament.
During a visit of a delegation of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) headed by POLSA President Marek Banaszkiewicz in February 2016, Poland expressed interest in boosting cooperation with Ukraine in the creation of new space and rocket technologies, including Earth remote sensing satellites.
KYIV. June 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said that Germany intends to provide EUR 300 million to Ukraine for energy, infrastructure and railways.
“The decision that we would be able to implement the untied financial loan of EUR 300 million intended for energy, infrastructure and railways has been made,” he said on ICTV Channel.
As reported, Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko said that The mission of Germany’s KfW will arrive to Ukraine on July 4 to approve projects on the implementation of the second part of untied financial loan of EUR 300 million that could be sent to the target projects by the end of 2016.
A memorandum on joint intentions between the government of Ukraine and the government of Germany for an unrelated financial loan totaling EUR 500 million was signed in Berlin on April 1, 2015.
In July 2015, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada ratified the memorandum.
KYIV. June 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Galicia Greenery LLC (Lviv region) plans to invest EUR600,000 in the expansion of a greenhouse complex for growing lettuce, according to the website of Lviv Regional State Administration.
According to the report, at the expense of the funds invested it is planned in the current year to build the second section of the greenhouse of 4,800 square meters to increase production and expand the product range.
According to the company’s management, the expansion of the product range will provide for increased sales, the number of clients and jobs.
Galicia Greenery was registered in 2011. Its founder is Dutch company Galicia Greenery Holding B.V..
Since the beginning of the company’s operations, the amount of investment in the project stands at EUR 2.5 million.
KYIV. June 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Germany is Ukraine’s key partner for introducing principles of integrated urban development in line with the Leipzig Charter, Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko has said at a meeting with Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Muller.
“Energy efficiency, transport infrastructure and mobility are priorities. The German government is already providing Ukraine with financial and technical assistance in these areas. We hope the geography of such projects will grow,” the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine quoted Zubko as saying.
The minister said following the meeting that Germany was successfully fulfilling an agreement on the implementation of an international project, entitled “Integrated Development of Cities in Ukraine,” as part of a statement on mutual intentions of cooperation between the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry of Ukraine and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.
“Four projects on integrated development of four Ukrainian cities have been launched together with the German Corporation for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ). Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Poltava and Chernivtsi will follow European development concepts within three years. The budget of the project, which is estimated at EUR 5.85 million, will be provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany and the State Secretariat for Economy Affairs of Switzerland,” Zubko said.
KYIV. June 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Managers of the European division of the Uber taxi service is to visit Kyiv on June 30.
This is outlined in an announcement of the visit of the company’s managers to Kyiv and the presentation during which information about the operation of Uber in Ukraine could be presented.
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry announced the Uber service in Ukraine in December 2015, while in July 2015 Uber Technologies Inc. was looking for a general manger for the Ukrainian market. Uber is headquartered in San Francisco and is present in over 300 cities worldwide. Later media reported that Arkadiy Vershebeniuk has been appointed head of the Ukrainian representative office.
In February 2016, Uberlin company, an authorized partner of the Uber taxi service (the United States), started compiling a database of drivers in Ukraine for further connection to the service. Five Ukrainian cities were available on the website of Uberlin for submitting applications from drivers, namely Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk. Three indicative tariff plans are offered for Ukrainian drivers: “Weekly” (for 40 trips per week the commission is 6% plus a 5% tax, payments are made once a week), “Daily Cashless” (a commission of 10% plus a 5% tax, funds are daily transferred to the card), and “Fixed” (a commission of UAH 500 a week).
Uber said that the platform in Ukraine will work only with individual businessmen and legal entities that will have all the required documents, including the licenses. After the launch of Uber, Kyiv will become one of 400 cities where citizens will be able to use the reliable, affordable and safe service for riding from point A to point B at the push of a button of the smartphone, the company said.
KYIV. June 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Venture capital investment into Ukrainian companies at early and growth stages increased by 2.4 times in 2015, and reached $132 million.
Managing Director of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) Jaanika Merilo wrote on her Facebook page that a total of 66 disclosed deals were held, and 48 deals with the participation of foreign funds.
She also said that 62 deals were investment into early stage and four deals were investment in growth stage. Investment in growth stage reached some $100 million.
“If to put it briefly: they believe in Ukraine, especially IT investors who are ready to take more risks,” Merilo said.
She said that this investment is real money.
“We do not measure the money that is invested through Cyprus and other zones. This is the real money of foreign and Ukrainian funds in the charter capitals of companies (not credits),” Merilo 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.
