KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The United Kingdom will provide assistance to Ukraine in reforming the customs sector and the judicial system.
“We’ve agreed that the UK will consistently assist us in the reform of our customs system and the introduction of a parliamentary system of transparency,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson, in turn, expressed his support for the reforms.
“We will contribute to the reform of the tax system, a few of our prominent experts, including tax attorneys, will work in Ukraine,” he said.
Johnson said the parties also discussed the reform of the judiciary, providing the transparency and integrity of the parliament.
KYIV. Sept 14 (Interfax) – Ukraine and Georgia have signed an agreement at the governmental level on arranging direct international railroad services through the two countries’ seaports, the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry press service reported on Tuesday.
The agreement was signed at the International Maritime Forum in Batumi on September 13.
“We signed a very important document today, which links Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan along the Silk Road. This initiative has gotten a second wind and, undeniably, has great prospects. Our countries have applied a lot of effort to simplify the logistics, make the transit cheaper, and, above all, speed up the delivery of goods, so as to make it as comfortable for business as possible,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said.
In the current market conditions, the speed of goods delivery is just as important as the delivery cost, and increasingly more companies agree to bear extra expenditures to deliver goods not in two or three months but in 9-15 days, he said.
“We should increase the speed at which containers pass from China to Ukraine’s western border to 9-10 days,” Omelyan said.
The two countries are continuing negotiations on introducing a through rate and simplifying the customs procedures, he said.
“I hope we will complete the formalities this year and will start deliveries as such next year. We see great interest on the part of the EU countries. This is not only an economic but also a political project for Ukraine. We should be independent from a particular country’s moods. We should launch a procedure in such a way that a cargo be delivered timely and in any weather, either political or economic,” he said.
KYIV. Sept 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Germany is interested in further use of the Ukrainian gas transportation system to meet the needs of Europe, German Ambassador to Ukraine Ernst Reichel told Interfax-Ukraine in an exclusive interview.
“The German government is fully aware of Ukraine’s concerns regarding the Nord Stream 2 project and the foreign policy context behind it. The government will continue to stand for using the Ukrainian gas transportation system to provide gas to the EU member countries, for example, the countries of South-Eastern Europe,” he said.
He said that if the Nord Stream 2 project is implemented, it should fully comply with the demands of European legislation. “If the interested firms decide to implement it finally, Nord Stream 2 should comply with all legal acts on this case, which are applied in the EU to all projects of such nature,” he said.
At that, the diplomat said that it is too early to raise the question of participation of German companies in the management of the Ukrainian gas transportation system. “I believe it is too early to raise the question. Naftogaz is still not disaggregated. The conditions under which the EU firms could participate in one of the separate successor companies of Ukrtransgaz are still unclear,” he said.
“Regarding the overall economic and investment climate in Ukraine, there is still room for improvement, for instance, in the reforms of the activities of judicial bodies and the fight against corruption,” he said.
KYIV. Sept 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman believes that Ukraine and Poland should expand cooperation in infrastructure and transport, as well as in defense sector.
“I think that the strategic objective of our government is to rebuild a very high quality system of relations. And then we can deepen our cooperation in economy,” the prime minister said during a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to Groysman, the two countries can expand cooperation in the field of infrastructure and transport, which will contribute to economic integration.
“We should deepen our bilateral cooperation in the defense sector. We have a good progress here, and we can talk about the results,” he Ukrainian prime minister said.
KYIV. Sept 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Agroliga Group (Kharkiv region) starts building a sunflower seeds crushing plant with a capacity of 170,000 tonnes in Kharkiv region.
According to a posting on the company’s website, the first phase of the plant that would crush 100,000 seeds a year will be launched in September and October 2017.
“The structure of the project financing comprises of the company’s funds and long term loans,” the company said.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval will finance the project.
As of today, general construction plan is fixed, tenders for the supply of equipment, construction and installation works have been carried out.
Agroliga has been working in the Ukrainian agricultural products market since 1992. Its enterprises are engaged in the cultivation of grains, sunflower seeds processing and dairy farming.
The group plans to continue expanding its land bank to 12,300 ha (9,300 ha now) and develop a dairy farm. The group also plans to increase cowherd to 1,400 cows from 1,000 and started producing dairy products. The group plans to produce powder milk and soft cheese.
One of the strategic tasks of the group is development of oilseeds crushing. It is planned to increase the capacities from 55,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes in 2015 and to 100,000 tonnes until 2017, accordingly.
KYIV. Sept 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Maglis IT platform for agriculture could be launched by Germany’s BASF chemical concern in Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Brazil in 2017.
“In Europe, we are preparing to launch the platform only in Ukraine and in the Czech Republic. In addition, it will also be launched in Brazil,” Jeff Spencer, an expert on strategic IT solutions for marketing from the BASF plant protection division in the global market said at a BASF global conference in Ludwigshafen (Germany).
According to him, the platform will be free for all market participants. The Maglis platform will provide analytical information to farmers and could be used as support in decision-making to improve the management of crop production, using data for a particular farm and cultivated crop.
The platform has already been in operation in the United States and Canada, it can be utilized both by large and small farms.
“Why have we chosen the Czech Republic and Ukraine in Europe? We are looking at two or three factors. The first one is the structure of the market, the second is the readiness of market participants to adopt new technologies, and the third is the size of farms,” Spencer said.
At the beginning, the Maglis platform will be represented by three products: the Maglis Customer Navigator, Maglis Crop Plan, and Maglis Sustainability.
