KYIV. Nov 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv City State Administration has presented the “Open Budget” project at the Smart City international congress in Barcelona, the press service of the administration has reported.
“Now the team of the Kyiv Smart City project is at the Smart City congress in Barcelona. This is a congress where companies present their solutions in terms of various technologies in making cities “smart” and comfortable to live in. The presentations of the most progressive cities in the world, such as New York, Barcelona, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Tallinn and many others are held here,” first deputy head of Kyiv City State Administration Ihor Nikonov said.
According to him, the report on the “Open Budget” project has been successfully implemented by the city authorities headed by Mayor Vitali Klitschko, caused considerable interest.
“A lot of questions were asked, they offered to share our experience. This is just the beginning of the way, however, our Western colleagues highly appreciated the changes that have been implemented,” Nikonov said.
He also said that the Kyiv Smart City team held a number of important meetings during the conference. In particular, meetings were held with the administration of Barcelona, as well as leading companies such as IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Cisco, at which the parties discussed the possibility of introducing advanced technologies in Kyiv.
KYIV. Nov 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company AvtoKrAZ (Kremenchuk, Poltava region), the only Ukrainian producer of heavy trucks, plans to invest at least $10 million in expanding the number of its truck models and improving their quality in 2016, using its own working capital.
“This year we’ve invested at least $10 million in this direction, and next year we plan at least for the same investment,” AvtoKrAZ Director General Roman Cherniak said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that next year the company will present several new models, including military and civil vehicles.
“[We will present] a 4×4 wheat low-tonnage truck with a carrying capacity from three to five tonnes: the design documents are being drawn up, and spare parts and elements are being selected,” he said.
He said that by the end of this year AvtoKrAZ plans to present an 8×4 wheel cab-over-engine dump truck which can be used for construction and transportation of crushed stone.
A 4×2 wheel dump truck will also be presented.
Cherniak said that the desire of the company to invest in the permanent improvement of its trucks is linked to plans to expand its presences in foreign markets.
“We’re trying to enter the European markets, as these are science-based markets, compared to our market, and they carry out researches and we want to be part of this,” he said.
AvtoKrAZ makes 33 basic vehicle models, and more than 260 modifications and trim levels for civilian and military vehicles.
KYIV. Nov 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in October 2015 saw steel production rise by 6.4% compared with October 2014, to 2.055 million tonnes, and the country climbed from 11th to 10th in the ranking of the 66 countries that are the world’s major manufacturers of steel, compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
Steel production in October fell in the most of the top ten states, except for India, Germany, Turkey and Ukraine.
The top ten steel producing countries in October were China (66.124 million tonnes, a fall of 3.1%), Japan (9.003 million tonnes, a drop of 3.8%), India (7.5 million tonnes, a rise of 4.9%), the United States (6.739 million tonnes, a drop of 8.8%), South Korea (5.83 million tonnes, a fall of 5.6%), Russia (5.678 million tonnes, a decline of 2.4%), Germany (3.638 rise of 2%), and Ukraine (2.055 million tonnes, a rise of 6.4%).
In October 2015, the 66 countries produced 133.64 million tonnes of steel, which is 3.1% less than in October 2014.
In January- October 2015, the top ten steel producing countries were China (675.104 million tonnes, a fall of 2.2%), Japan (87.815 million tonnes, a drop of 5.1%), India (75.075 million tonnes, growth of 3.3%), the United States (67.243 million tonnes, a drop of 8.8%), Russia (59.307 million tonnes, a decline of 0.2%), South Korea (57.672 million tonnes, a drop of 3.6%), Germany (36.208 million tonnes, a rise of 0.3%), Brazil (28.236 million tonnes, a decline of 1.3%), Turkey (26.554 million tonnes, a drop of 6.9%), and Ukraine (19.148 million tonnes, a drop of 18.3%).
In general, during the first ten months of 2015, the 66 countries manufactured 1.346 billion tonnes of steel, which is 2.5% less than in the same period in 2014.
KYIV. Nov 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to allow individual users of international online payment systems to receive electronic money issued outside Ukraine from nonresidents, the regulator said on its website.
The draft NBU resolution on amending the resolution on electronic money was posted on the regulator’s website last week.
According to the document, individuals have the right to receive electronic money from nonresidents issued by nonresidents if the international online payment system provides for redeeming electronic money via sending funds to the accounts of individuals in resident banks.
The document will apply to individuals who plan to receive electronic money issued by nonresidents, using international online payment systems included in the register of payment systems.
KYIV. Nov 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry and grain exporters have signed a memorandum of understanding for the 2015/2016 marketing year to guarantee food security in Ukraine.
“The goal of the memorandum is to ensure the predictability of the grain market mainly in terms of exports and guarantee food security,” Minister Oleksandr Pavlenko said at a briefing on Thursday.
In his words, market operators have drawn up a quarterly schedule for food wheat exports. The amount of grain exports are fixed for the entire marketing year.
“We expect that grain exports in the 2015/2016 marketing year will be 36 million tonnes. The existing pace of exports will let us ensure such amounts,” the minister said.
He also said that food wheat exports in the fourth quarter of 2015 and in the first quarter of 2016 are expected at 1.5 million tonnes each, and 1.4 million tonnes of food wheat is expected to be shipped abroad in the second quarter of 2016.
Under the memorandum, wheat exports in the entire 2015/2016 marketing year are projected at 16.6 million tonnes, barley – at 3.9 million tonnes, maize – at 16 million tonnes, and rye – at 8,000 tonnes.
KYIV. Nov 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will build up its stake in UkrSibbank’s capital to 40% from 15%, EBRD Senior Adviser for External Affairs Anton Usov told Interfax-Ukraine.
“With an increase in UkrSibbank’s charter capital by $130 million, the EBRD’s equity stake will grow to 40%,” he said.
As reported, UkrSibbank’s share holders at a special meeting on November 16 decided to raise the bank’s charter capital by 3.5 times, or UAH 4.466 billion, to UAH 6.239 billion through an additional issue of shares.
The bank plans to carry out a private placement of the additional issue of shares whose face value will be UAH 0.01 each.
UkrSibbank was founded in 1990.
BNP Paribas S.A. (France) had an 84.9996% stake in UkrSibbank, while the EBRD owned 15% as of the beginning of October 2015.
By October, UkrSibbank bank ranked 9th in terms of its assets worth UAH 38.084 billion among 123 Ukrainian-based banks.
