KYIV. Nov 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Health Minister of Ukraine Alexander Kvitashvili has signed a UAH 750 million agreement on medicine procurement using budget funds with Britain’s Crown Agents international procurement development agency.
The agreement was signed in Kyiv on November 6.
Under the agreement, the agency will buy medicines under adult and children cancer treatment programs.
“We hope that starting from the procurement cycle of next year all procurement tenders will be passed over to international organizations,” Kvitashvili said.
Senior Consultant of Crown Agents Christine Jackson then told reporters that the procurement procedure could have actually started on November 6.
An announcement will be posted on the websites of the Health Ministry and Crown Agents, inviting all suppliers of cancer treating medicines to take part in the tender.
Jackson expressed hope that there will be many offers.
She said that bidders are to meet tough conditions foreseen in the agency’s procedures.
“International criteria will be observed. We believe that medicines that will be bought will meet these criteria,” she said.
“This is an open process for everyone who will respond to our announcement,” she said.
As reported, the Health Ministry plans to buy medicines through UNICEF to the tune of UAH 800 million. The ministry has already transferred UAH 620 million to UNDP for procurements. In general, the ministry said, international organizations are expected to handle medicine procurements worth UAH 2.197 billion.
KYIV. Nov 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Denmark will create an investment fund to support small and medium businesses in Ukraine, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin has stated.
“We had very good talks with [Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark] Kristian Jensen. There will be created a Danish investment fund to support small and medium businesses in Ukraine,” Klimkin wrote on his Twitter page.
As reported, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Kristian Jensen during talks with Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin admitted the possibility of increasing investment in Ukraine and technical assistance for Ukrainian reforms.
KYIV. Nov 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Four land plots with a total area of 6.12 hectares in Kherson region will be leased for building and operating wind power plants.
According to the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, the decision was approved by the directorate of the service in Kherson region.
According to the report, after formalizing all the necessary documents, the landholder will be Windkraft Tavria (Skadovsk, Kherson region), which is engaged in the construction of alternative energy objects.
“Land will be allocated from the state reserve of farmland outside settlements. At the same time, it is planned to change the purpose of the land. It will allow for building a new strategic facility in Kherson region and provide additional revenues to local budgets,” reads the report.
According to the unified state register of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, Windkraft Tavria LLC was registered in 2014 and is engaged in electricity generation and distribution.
KYIV. Nov 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian enterprises working with scrap ferrous metals in January-October 2015 increased exports of these products by 41.1% compared to the same period in 2014, to 1.125 million tonnes.
According to customs statistics made public by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, scrap metal exports in monetary terms rose by 6.4%, to $269.353 million.
In January-October 2015 the country reduced imports of scrap metal in natural terms by 92.2% compared to January-October 2014, to 2,154 tonnes. In monetary terms, imports fell by 83.8%, to $2.262 million.
The goods were mainly imported from Turkey (93.81% of supply in terms of money), and Moldova (3.89%). Exports mainly went to Turkey (79.10%), and Moldova (19.36%).
KYIV. Nov 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The French-Ukrainian business forum will be held in Paris on November 18, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has reported on its website.
The ministry said that on the eve of the forum, Ukrainian Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius met with representatives of French companies operating in Ukraine, namely Soufflet, Renault Ukraine, L’Oreal, Arcelor Mittal Steel, BNP Paribas, Danone and Auchan, to discuss the problems that prevent foreign investors from developing business in Ukraine. The meeting was focused on the extension of the moratorium on business inspections, VAT refunds, and resolving the issues of land allocation.
KYIV. Nov 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The construction of the Vinnytsia poultry farm, including its second phase, is in line with the Ukrainian and European Union (EU) certification standards, Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Our companies are certified under European standards. How could production facilities that are certified not only under Ukrainian, but also under European standards negatively impact the environment? Under Ukrainian standards, the sites cannot be placed closer than one kilometer from a settlement. We’ve built [the sites] under [Ukrainian and EU] standards, otherwise we would not have received the permit. If we even did this, we would not pass European certification,” the press service of MHP reported.
The holding said it is perplexed about complaints of local residents.
“We conducted an analysis, we check odors at distances of 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 meters. The smell is almost unnoticeable at 500 meters…We don’t understand why people are outraged. Maybe due to other reasons which should be cleared up,” the press service said.
MHP said that the entire Vinnytsia poultry farm project is worth over $1 billion in investment, and the second phase includes 12 additional sites for breeding and additional slaughtering facilities.
The start of the construction of the second phase of the farm is scheduled for 2016.
On Thursday, residents of Chetverynivka of Vinnytsia region set up a roadblock and started an indefinite protest against the construction of the poultry farm. The protestors are concerned that if the farm is built, an unpleasant odor will affect settlement and the ecological situation in the area would worsen.
