KYIV. March 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Taking into account good weather conditions, sowing of early spring crops has been started in three regions of Ukraine and 45,000 ha has been sowed or 2% of the target, Agricultural Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Pavlenko wrote on his Facebook page late on Monday.
The minister said that spring barley was sowed on 34,000 ha or 2% of the target, oats on 11,300 ha (6%) and peas on 10,000 ha (6%).
Crops on 23,900 ha (14% of the target) were sowed in Odesa region, 11,300 ha (6%) in Kherson region and 9,600 ha (6%) in Mykolaiv region.
According to tentative data from the regions, it is planned to sow crops for the 2016 harvest at the level of 2015 – 26.7 million ha.
KYIV. March 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin during a meeting with Foreign Minister of Nigeria Geoffrey Onyeama have discussed the participation of Ukrainian specialists in the project for restoring and upgrading the Ajaokuta metallurgical plant.
The two foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the High Level Segment of the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council on March 1, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s press service reported on Wednesday.
“They discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation, in particular in trade, economic and educational areas, including the participation of Ukrainian experts in the project on the recovery and modernization of Ajaokuta metallurgical plant, as well as the prospects for cooperation between Ukraine and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
According to the report, it was agreed to hold political consultations between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Nigeria soon.
KYIV. March 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Private joint-stock company APK-Invest (Donetsk region), one of the largest pork producers in Ukraine, saw UAH 65.34 million in net profit in 2015 compared to net loss of UAH 109.92 million a year ago, the company has reported in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market of Ukraine.
The company said that its assets grew by 18%, to UAH 3.25 billion.
Total bills receivable reached UAH 252.59 million compared to UAH 181.36 million in 2014.
As reported, APK-Invest increased pork production by 7% in 2015, to 42,000 tonnes of cooled pork.
APK-Invest is a vertically integrated agro-industrial company with a complete closed cycle of production of chilled pork from growing grain and animal feed production to production and sale of meat goods.
KYIV. March 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine has proposed that a ban on exports of round timber that causes alarm with the EU is revoked, and the mechanisms for protecting the domestic market more acceptable in the World Trade Organization (WTO) are used, Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Maksym Nefyodov has said.
“Ukrainian lawmakers with their safeguard measures towards timber prompted the large problem in relations between Ukraine and the EU. The ban on exporting round timber imposed for 10 years caused alarm with the EU and the WTO. We propose a bill that allows settling the issue: on one hand it revokes the ban and on the other hand – thanks to the introduction of the mechanism for protecting the domestic market more acceptable in the WTO and we hope that MPs will support it,” he said at a cabinet meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Nefyodov said that this concerns the creation of the timber registration system and sale of timber in two stages – first at auctions for Ukrainian producers and then at exports auctions.
“I ask cabinet members to support the bill, as the adoption of the bill directly depends on the next tranche of the macro-financial assistance from the EU,” he said.
KYIV. March 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a meeting with Vice President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic in Kyiv have discussed the matters of cooperation and further integration of Ukraine into the EU single energy market, and the reform of the Ukrainian energy sector and energy market.
During the talks, Poroshenko urged the European Commission to promote the organization of an international conference in support of modernization of the Ukrainian gas transport system in the nearest time, the Ukrainian president’s press service reported.
Poroshenko stressed Ukraine’s commitment to implementing reforms, inter alia, in the energy sector. “We have spent a winter without Russian gas. Due to our reliable transit, we didn’t let Russia blackmail us and demonstrated efficient interaction with the European Commission,” the head of state said.
The president has once again emphasized this position regarding the Nord Stream 2 project. “This is a purely political project and it should be blocked. We count on the European Commission’s support, for it is an instrument to punish Ukraine for its European aspirations,” Poroshenko noted.
The head of state expressed the hope that the Ukrainian parliament will soon consider the law on the electricity market, which was previously agreed with the Energy Union.
The president underlined the importance of the decision on the establishment of the visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU.
In his turn, the vice president of the European Commission praised Ukraine’s efforts on the track of European reforms and stressed the importance of continuing their implementation.
“Sefcovic noted close interaction between the European Union and Ukraine in the issues of common energy policy and underlined Ukraine’s considerable progress on the path towards gas independence,” the statement reads.
The parties discussed future steps aimed at enhancing energy independence, improving energy efficiency of the Ukrainian economy, implementing legislative amendments concerning the national JSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and creating conditions for the involvement of foreign investors in the energy sector of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president invited leaders of the European Commission to take part in the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Chornobyl tragedy in April 2016.
