KYIV. July 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be the co-organizers of the first U.S.-Ukrainian Business Forum which will offer a platform for dialogue between the leaders of U.S. business circles and representatives of the Ukrainian government on the future of bilateral economic and commercial cooperation, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has said.
“Our goal is clear: to make Ukraine a more attractive place for doing business,” the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers reported, citing Pritzker.
She said that the American private sector should play an important role in strengthening and stabilizing the Ukrainian market. Many companies that will participate in the forum have already invested in Ukraine. Other companies could become investors in the future.
Pritzker said it is fortunate that the Ukrainian leadership has started to make progress in fighting corruption, increasing transparency, reforming the regulatory system, and increasing confidence in the Ukrainian market.
She said that more events are required and the Monday forum is the “perfect opportunity for American executives to offer specific recommendations about how to enhance the way business is conducted in Ukraine.”
“The Obama Administration is committed to supporting and expanding strong economic relations between the U.S. and Ukraine,” Pritzker added.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The new strategy of Swiss cooperation with Ukraine in 2015-2018 foresees about CHF100 million being granted in financial aid to Ukraine, which at the average exchange rate on July 10, 2015 is equivalent to about $105 million.
This is according to the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Services, with reference to the press service of Regional Development Minister, Vice Prime Minister Hennadiy Zubko.
“We appreciate the decision to increase fiscal aid to Ukraine to CHF100 million,” Zubko said during the presentation of the strategy on July 9.
He said that in 2011-2014, Switzerland provided Ukraine with a total of CHF57 million of financial aid.
“It is very important for us that the new strategy of Switzerland’s cooperation with Ukraine provides special attention to Ukrainian citizens and territories affected by the armed conflict,” Zubko said.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said there has been a rapid rise in the trust of Ukrainian citizens in the newly created patrol police in Kyiv.
“The policemen took in tow a car with a died out engine, stopped to help a girl change a tire there, then put handcuffs on a general there, and it’s a miracle. And things keep happening that led to a fantastic, very rapid growth of trust into policemen,” he said during an extended meeting of the collegium of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday.
In addition, Poroshenko also noted the opposition between the new police with the old force.
“It’s not even an opposition but conflicts, when a corrupt official wasn’t released that [old] police wanted to set free. And it’s a vivid example of what’s appeared in the public now, in the old and new police – two worldviews. The difference between the old and new police shows the essence of Interior Ministry reforms. I’m grateful for the successful start of the project to the government, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and his Deputy Eka Zguladze,” he said.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Kalynivka customs terminal has been opened on the basis of the eponymous logistics center in Kalynivka (Vasylkiv district, Kyiv region), the owner of which is Epicenter group of companies (Kyiv).
The terminal will be used to carry out customs procedures at the Sviatoshyn checkpoint of the Kyiv customs service.
“The opening of the terminal on the basis of the logistics center is confirmation that Ukrainian business continues developing, despite difficult economic, political and military circumstances,” the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry reported on July 10, referring to the press service of Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister Hennadiy Zubko.
The press service of the State Fiscal Service reported that the Kalynivka customs terminal has a storage warehouse, a customs warehouse, and it is able to hold 110 vehicles at any given time.
The fiscal service said that the terminal provides services to vehicles that cross the Ukrainian border in the operation zone of the Sviatoshyn checkpoint of the Kyiv customs service.
As reported, Epicenter K LLC (Kyiv), which is part of the Epicenter Group developing the eponymous construction hypermarket chain in Ukraine, acquired 15,215 ordinary shares in private joint-stock company Kalynivka logistic center in November 2013.
Kalynivka logistic center was founded in 2004. The company owns the eponymous logistic center with a gross area of A-C class warehouses of around 20,000 square meters, administrative buildings – 5,600 square meters, and with an open space of 7.8 hectares. The center is located on 42 hectares.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry of Ukraine in H1 2015 finished 80% of steps required for the implementation of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, Deputy Minister for European Integration Roman Chuprynenko has said.
“I want to inform you that 80% of the action plan to implement the agreement with the EU has been finished in H1 2015. It is out of question that this year the ministry would make all steps, and I set the task to accelerate the steps planned for 2016,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on July 10.
Chuprynenko said that the ministry is to take 18 steps to implement the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and the ministry is the key executor of nine steps.
He said that the ministry, jointly with the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving and the European Energy Community, is making steps to implement the requirements of the EU directive on energy efficiency, which is crucial for Ukraine despite not being included in the general action plan to implement the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.
He said that the implementation of this EU directive would create a reliable legal basis to conduct energy efficiency reform in Ukraine.
“A large Ukrainian delegation will visit Vienna, the office of the European Energy Community in two weeks to work on the draft law on energy efficiency in Ukraine,” he said.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Grain exports from Ukraine since early current agricultural year (July-June) as of July 10, 2015 totaled 527,000 tonnes, including 343,000 tonnes of corn, the press service of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has reported.
The ministry said that as of July 10, 97,000 tonnes of wheat, 85,000 tonnes of barley and 2,000 tonnes of other grain cops was supplied to foreign markets.
A total of 268,000 tonnes of grain was loaded to ships.
As reported, tentatively grain exports from Ukraine in 2014/15 agricultural year totaled 34.805 million tonnes, including 18.837 million tonnes of corn. A total of 11.234 million tonnes of wheat, 4.46 million tonnes of barley and 280,000 tonnes of other grain crops was supplied to foreign markets.
