KYIV. April 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine, for the first time since joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in May 2008, is undergoing the review of its trade policy, within which Kyiv and the WTO Secretariat present their detailed reports on the state of practically all the sectors of the country’s economy, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has said.
“As expected, we can note interest in this event on the part of WTO members who pay serious attention to the transparency of Ukraine’s trade regime, as evidenced by the significant number of questions – 450!” reads a press release citing the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade and Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska.
According to the procedure, the opponent discussant of the Ukrainian delegation on the part of the WTO will be Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the WTO Remigi Winzap.
The review of trade policies of WTO members is one of the most important activities of the organization, because it is a significant element of transparency, reinforcing the principle of predictability of trade regimes, legislation and its implementation by WTO members.
KYIV. April 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Representatives of various Ukrainian business sectors have united to form the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs for protection and honestly promote their interests, as well as promote Ukrainian export growth, innovation and creating a favorable business environment.
“We want Ukrainian business to have a single voice identified by the society and the government and we want the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs to be this voice,” the president of the union, the co-founder and co-owner of Nova Poshta, Viacheslav Klimov, said. The comments were made at the presentation of newly-formed association in Kyiv.
The member of the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs board, the founder of Baker Tilly Ukraine, Oleksandr Pochkun, said that entrepreneurs are uniting to pay the attention of society and politicians to the existing problems of business and together promote deregulation, reduce tax pressure, develop export potential and create an adequate legal framework for economic development.
Klimov gave assurances that the union is created as a non-political association and would not organize political parties or nominate representatives to public authorities. Members of the union can be representatives of business, whose owners who are not associated with oligarchic and political structures.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Electronic Payment System in January-March 2016 handled initial payments in the amount of UAH 4.862 trillion, which is 20.4% more than in the same period of 2015 (UAH 4.039 trillion), the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said.
According to the report, 71.257 million initial payments worth UAH 2.911 trillion were handled in file mode, while 282,000 payments for UAH 1.952 trillion in real time.
At the same time, banks and their branches handled the bulk of initial payments, namely 67.292 million, which accounts for 94% of their total number.
According to the central bank, an average 1.173 million initial payments for UAH 80 billion were processed per day. The average daily balance on the accounts of participants in the electronic payment system was UAH 55.75 billion, while the average daily cash circulation rate stood at 1.41.
According to the NBU, on April 1, 2016 participants in the electronic payment system were 244 establishments, of which 119 are banks, 97 are bank branches, 27 are the State Treasury Service and its bodies and one is the NBU.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze – Ukraine LLC (Ternopil region), a manufacturer of wire harness for Volkswagen Concern and fully owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze, has started implementing a project on the creation of a production facility in Chortkiv (Ternopil region) as part of production expansion.
According to a posting on the website of Chortkiv town council, in late March 2016 the town council decided to take a land parcel of over 4.8 ha used Chortkiv Agromash Plant and lease it for 49 years for SE Bordnetze – Ukraine.
According to a posting on the website of Ternopil Regional Administration, referring to Governor Stepan Barna, logistics and production facilities and administrative facilities will be built at the first phase of the project realization (2016). Some 1,000 jobs will be created.
The project will be finished in late 2017 with expanding the number of jobs to 2,000, Barna said.
He said that five land parcels in Chortkiv district were offered to the investor.
SE Bordnetze – Ukraine LLC was opened in summer 2006. The projected investment into the project was EUR 5-7 million.
From a pilot project that products small modules, the enterprise has expanded to a powerful plant that produces wire harness for Volkswagen Golf А5, А6, А7, Hybrid, and mass production of wire harness for Audi А4 B9 was launched in 2015.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) before 2019 will design concepts for integrated development of Poltava, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi cities with participation of local authorities, the company said in a press release.
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development jointly with Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) will provide some EUR 6 million for these purposes.
The integrated development concepts will renew and unite all best practices in planning activities of cities in the economic, energy, transport, recreation, environment protection and other areas. The use of taxpayers’ funds will be optimized to develop the city environment.
Head of Integrated Urban Development Project in Ukraine Mathias Brandt said that Ukrainian, German and Swiss experts and all interested public representatives will be involved in designing the concept. Local authorities will be able to get broader access to the sources of financing national and international programs.
The concepts for Vinnytsia and Poltava could be approved in October-December 2017. A team of experts are synchronously working to improve qualification of employees in city councils.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Astarta agro-industrial holding, a large sugar producer in Ukraine, has invested UAH 10 million in the launch of a drip irrigation project on 360 ha in Poltava region.
The company said in a press release that the area of farmland, equipped with irrigation, would be expanded further, based on the results of this year harvest.
Astarta has already invested in reconstruction of melioration infrastructure (canal, pump station) followed by installation of a drip irrigation system made in Israel.
The irrigation technology will be implemented on farmland sowed with sugar beet. Drip irrigation of sugar beet will ensure high yields regardless of climatic factors.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding, uniting six regional divisions in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv regions. They include nine sugar factories, agricultural farms with a land bank of about 245,000 hectares and dairy farms. The holding also has a plant for processing soybeans in Poltava region (Globyno processing plant).
