KYIV. July 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) presided by President Petro Poroshenko met on Monday to consider the issue of tightening control of the Ukrainian state border crossing and specifically, of introducing a procedure for collecting biometrics of foreign visitors.
“This is about tightening controls over the entry to, exit from and stay in Ukrainian territory of citizens of other countries: we are introducing biometrics control procedures for all individuals crossing the Ukrainian border,” the Ukrainian presidential press service quoted Poroshenko as saying late on Monday.
“We must collect biometrics, including fingerprints and a digital photograph. This will considerably boost opportunities in terms of the fight against terrorism,” Poroshenko said, expressing confidence that the proposed draft decisions will be absolutely understood and supported by society.
Poroshenko noted that his order to draft relevant documents has by now been fulfilled. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine will report on this subject, Poroshenko said.
“We will give sufficient amount of time for the country to get prepared in terms of quality, so that upstanding citizens feel no inconvenience,” he said.
Poroshenko also instructed Interior Minister Arsen Avakov to personally take control of the order’s implementation so as to provide border guards at all main border-crossing points with equipment as necessary to record biometric data.
KYIV. July 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini will visit Kyiv to represent the European Union at the 19th EU-Ukraine summit on July 12-13.
European Commission’s vice-president for financial stability and financial services Valdis Dombrovskis and European Commissioners Johannes Hahn and Cecilia Malmstrom will also take part in the summit, the European Union’s Delegation to Ukraine said.
President Petro Poroshenko will lead the Ukrainian delegation.
During the summit, the chiefs of state and heads of EU institutions are expected to acknowledge the completion of the ratification of the EU-Ukraine association agreement and the recent introduction of visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens. The summit participants will also discuss progress of Ukrainian reforms and their support by the EU. The agenda also includes the conflict and crisis in eastern Ukraine, regional and foreign policy issues, among them relations with Russia, energy security, and preparations for an Eastern Partnership summit scheduled for November 2017 in Brussels.
The EU-Ukraine summit plenary session is to open at 11:00 a.m. on July 13, which is to be followed by a press conference to sum up the event’s outcomes.
Some information possessed by Interfax-Ukraine indicates that there is still no clarity about a joint statement that is supposed to be adopted in conclusion of the summit. Some sources said the Netherlands blocked a statement provision saying that the European Union recognizes Ukraine’s European aspirations. Kyiv has reportedly insisted on this wording and warned that, if the EU refuses to include it in the joint statement’s final text, it may even refuse to adopt the statement itself.
KYIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The land bank of Kernel agricultural holding after acquisition of Ukrainian Agrarian Investment (UAI) and Agro Invest Ukraine has reached over 600,000 ha of leasehold farmland.
According to a company report on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), Kernel completes the farmland bank expansion strategy.
In June 2017, Kernel finalized a deal to acquire UAI with a land bank of over 190,000 ha of leasehold farmland and around 200,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity. In July, Kernel bought Agro Invest Ukraine with a land bank of over 27,500 ha of leasehold farmland and near 170,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity.
“UAI manages onе of the largest prime quality farmland banks in Ukraine located in the proximity to Kernel’s existing operations. With respect to the acquisition of Agro Invest Ukraine our main target was world-class grain storage infrastructure which complemented the recent expansion of our farmland bank in the region. We added over 170,000 tons of modern grain silos, saving 2 years to construct the similar infrastructure from scratch,” Agribusiness Director at Kernel Yevhen Osypov said.
He said that Kernel focuses on the integration of acquired assets to uplift the operational efficiency and productivity levels to Kernel’s high standard.
KYIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Two enterprises producing milk and dairy foods and fish and fish foods have been licensed to export their produce to the European Union market from July 7, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food said.
Now 283 Ukrainian enterprises have the right to ship their produce to the EU countries, of which 103 are producers of food, including poultry, fish, honey, eggs, milk and dairy, the ministry said on its website.
The EU can also export 180 enterprises producing non-food products of animal origin, down and feather raw materials, skins, fodder for pets, non-edible offal, pedigree materials, and other non-food products of animal origin.
KHARKIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, the owner and president of DCH group of companies, has announced the purchase of a 100% stake in INGO Ukraine insurance company (Kyiv).
“Some 100% of the shares have been bought. The shares are in the process of registration,” Yaroslavsky told reporters in Kharkiv.
As reported, in May DCH completed formal procedures for closing a deal to purchase a 25% stake in INGO Ukraine insurer. Subsequently, DCH intended to increase its stake in the company to 100%.
KYIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Intergal-Bud construction company (Kyiv) plans to start building five new residential complexes in Kyiv in July-September 2017, Deputy Commercial Director Hanna Layevska has said.
“Now nine residential complexes are being built in Kyiv. By the end of this year we plan to have 14 complexes. In July-September we intend to start building five more new projects and launch sales in them,” she said at a press conference in Kyiv.
The company’s press service reported that the number of apartments in new residential complexes will be over 4,800, and their gross area would be over 300,000 square meters. Construction of the complexes would be finished by May 2020.
The company said that in 2017, Intergal-Bud plans to commission over 250,000 square meters of housing (2,115 apartments in 22 houses) in eight residential complexes in Kyiv, which is 25% more than in 2016.
Intergal-Bud construction company LLC was founded in 2006. It is subsidiary of Lviv subsidiary established in 2003.
As of July 2017, the company has realized residential and commercial property projects with gross area of around 1.5 million square meters in Kyiv, Lviv, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Zhytomyr, Yuzhgorod and Mukachevo.
The company’s portfolio includes promising projects at the design stage with gross area of around 2.5 million square meters.
