The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has decided to create the Maritime Authority that would start operating from August 1, 2018, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has said.
“The government resolution on the creation of the Maritime Authority from August 1, 2018 has been issued,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Government resolution No. 1095 dated September 6, 2017 on the creation of the State Service of Sea and River Transport of Ukraine has been posted on the government’s website.
The service will be the central executive body, whose activities are directed and coordinated by the Cabinet of Ministers through the Minister of Infrastructure, implementing the public policy in the fields of sea and river transport, merchant shipping, navigation on inland waterways, navigation and hydrographic provision of navigation, as well as in maritime security and river transport (except for the safety of navigation of ships of the fishing industry fleet).
According to the authority’s regulations, in accordance with the tasks assigned to it, it, in particular, ensures the preparation of proposals by the Ministry of Infrastructure for the conclusion, termination or suspension of action, denunciation and accession to international treaties on sea and river transport in Ukraine; concludes international treaties of Ukraine of interdepartmental character; develops a strategy for ensuring the fulfillment of the obligations of the state flag, the state port and the coastal state under international treaties in the field of merchant shipping and performs the functions resulting from these obligations; draws up proposals for the integration of the national sea and river transport system into the European and global transport systems and, in accordance with the established procedure, ensures this integration; carries out control over the implementation of international agreements of Ukraine on the safety of navigation and prevention of environmental pollution.
In addition, the authority exercises control over ensuring the security of transportation of goods, passengers and baggage by sea and river vessels; over the state of sea routes, the functioning of traffic control services and pilotage; carrying out rescue operations on sea and river transport, in the water area of seaports, the functioning of radio navigation and observation systems of the maritime mobile service; conducts checks of compliance of the port security systems; coordinates the activities of the captains of seaports within their authority; controls the conclusion of compulsory insurance contracts; conducts investigation and analysis of the causes of marine accidents and transport accidents on inland waterways of Ukraine; carries out licensing of economic activities for the provision of services for transportation of passengers, dangerous goods, hazardous waste by sea and river transport.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a concept for development of digital economy of Ukraine until 2020 with the option of its revision at a government meeting on Wednesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported.
“Our ambitious goal is to achieve 5% of GDP by 2021 thanks to the development of the digital economy,” Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Mykhailo Titarchuk said during the presentation of the document at a government meeting.
Earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister, Economic Development and Trade Minister Stepan Kubiv said that about one third of the rural population in Ukraine do not have access to broadband Internet, 53% of schools do not have Internet connection, as well as about 99% of healthcare institutions.
“We have determined about 50 indicators of Ukraine’s digital development. By the way, one of the key points of the action plan is the indicators of the development of digital infrastructures, in particular, the maximum coverage with broadband Internet,” Titarchuk said.
In his turn, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said pointed out the need to confirm the funding declared by the budget and asked the prime minister to take it under his control.
According to Klimkin, the important point of the concept is not only economic, but also its public part.
“We are used to electronic petitions, but there is also an item on electronic elections. The fact that we are affirming this document today attests to our political responsibility that we support electronic voting,” the foreign minister said during the discussion of the document.
Mutual trade between Ukraine and Germany in 2017 grew by 21.5%, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has reported after a meeting of Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman with representatives of leading German companies operating in Ukraine.
“Last year the volume of mutual trade grew by 21.5%, and trade focus shifted towards goods of light and food industries,” the press service said.
According to the report, the construction sector remained interesting sector for investors.
German Ambassador to Ukraine Ernst Reichel said that his country pays much attention to Ukraine’s achievements in fighting corruption, judicial reform and cooperation with international financial institutions (IFIs).
DTEK Energy holding has signed a contract with GE Renewable Energy for the supply, installation and maintenance of 26 wind turbines with a capacity of 3 MW each, the press service of the Ukrainian company has reported.
“The equipment is designed for the construction of the first phase of Prymorska wind power plant with a capacity of 200 MW in Zaporizhia region. The wind turbines will be delivered to Ukraine and installed at the site of Prymorska plant in 2018,” the report said.
The commissioning of the two stages of Prymorska wind power plant of 100 MW each is planned until 2020. The total planned volume of investments in the construction of Prymorska wind farm is more than EUR300 million.
As reported, DTEK in 2011 started the construction of Botiyevska wind power plant in Zaporizhia region and in October 2012 launched its first phase. At present, the installed capacity of Botiyevska wind power plant is 200 MW.
The Nova Poshta Group delivered 145.8 million parcels in 2017, which is almost 30% more than in 2016.
The group’s press service reported that over 5 million of parcels were received from other countries, while in 2016 Nova Poshta International, member of the group, delivered around 1 million parcels from abroad.
“The share of deliveries for Nova Poshta’s customers from the online trade segment in Ukraine grew by about one third year-over-year. In 2017, the trend continued: the company delivered about 33 million parcels for e-commerce, which is 30% more than in 2016. At the same time, demand for fulfilment from online sellers and distributors of goods is growing, for example, more than 15 million operations with cargo were carried out in NP Logistic (also member of the group) and in 2018 it is planned to double this figure,” the group said in the press release.
According to the group, targeted services also developed: during the past year Nova Posta carried out 16 million door-to-door deliveries, which is almost 40% more than in 2016.
“In order to maintain a stable quality of service in the company, its fleet has been expanded: for the year the number of trucks that deliver to doors has grown by 31% and amounted to almost 1,500 units,” the press service of the group said.
In addition, in 2017, the group attracted several successful managers, opened a new format office in Kyiv and the first branch in Italy, signed an agreement on an exclusive partnership with one of the European express delivery leaders – DPD Group. Customers also received new digital opportunities: they can make changes to the data of express invoices through online channels and receive payment for the sent goods to the bank card.
“In the plans of Nova Poshta for 2018 is to improve the quality of service and develop the network. If during the past year the company did not make a bet on the development of the network, this year it plans an active expansion throughout Ukraine,” the group said.
State-owned enterprise Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash, Dnipro) expect that the program on commercial launches using the Zenit launch vehicle under the Sea Launch international project will be resumed and the enterprise is waiting for a new order to produce the Zenit launch vehicle early 2018.
“In April 2017, a contract was signed between S7 Sea Launch Limited and Pivdenmash for the manufacture of twelve Zenit launch vehicles, which already has an order for the production of two products with a delivery period in 2018. An additional order for three products is expected in February 2018,” the company said on its website.
As reported, the Sea Launch consortium for commercial launches of satellites from a launch site in the Pacific Ocean was established in 1995. Sea Launch International Consortium used to launch Zenit-3SL rockets from the floating platform deployed in the equatorial Pacific. Following reorganization in 2010, Energia Overseas Limited (EOL), a subsidiary of Energia Corporation, acquired a 95% stake in the company, while U.S. Boeing received 3% and Norway’s Aker Solutions got 2%.
Sea Launch Group members (subsidiaries and lower-tier subsidiaries of Energia Corporation) and S7 Group entered into a contract for the purchase of the Sea Launch Commander ship, the Odyssey launch platform and gear, and the Sea Launch trademark on September 27 during the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2016 in Guadalajara (Mexico).
According to Pivdenmash, the enterprise and S7 Sea Launch Limited entered into a contract in April 2017 to build 12 Zenit launch vehicles for space exploration programs conducted under the Sea Launch and Land Launch projects.
