BAKU. July 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev have called for development of bilateral trade at a meeting in Baku.
“We have given very serious instructions and I have no doubt that their fulfillment will bring our countries closer together and their trade turnover will increase. The current level of trade turnover does not satisfy either Azerbaijan or Ukraine,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said after negotiations with his Ukrainian colleague.
Instructions regarding joint investment projects were also given at the negotiations, he said.
“We ordered that the investment potential of both countries be reviewed due to the mutual interest in this matter,” Aliyev said.
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) is doing business in Ukraine and has invested over $200 million in more than 60 filling stations in Ukraine, the Azerbaijani president said.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – U.S. General Electric Corporation soon could supply own locomotive for its testing at Ukrainian railways, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has said.
“We are finishing an agreement on the test locomotive. I think that, if not this week, next week we will sign it. Then the locomotive will be shipped to Ukraine and start a six-month test,” the minister told reporters in Kyiv on Monday.
Omelyan added that a memoriam of cooperation with General Electric is being drawn up. It will be similar to the paper signed with Canada’s Bombardier on Monday. Under the document it is planned to create a joint locomotive production facility in Ukraine.
General Electric is a U.S. multi-sector corporation. The company is the ninth in the Forbes Global 2000 list of largest public companies.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The owner and president of DCH Group Oleksandr Yaroslavsky who holds a controlling stake in Kharkiv Tractor Plant seeks to invest around UAH 200 million in the enterprise.
“I plan to invest near UAH 200 million in Kharkiv Tractor Plant. The plant could be restored within six months,” he said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine publication.
The businessman said that he sees the plant producing tractors, and if the company receives an order from the state – military equipment that the plant made 20 years ago: multipurpose lightly-armored transporters.
Asked about the possible modernization of the plant, he said that it would be conducted if it suits business plan.
“Modernization is a manmade process. If there were order from the state to make military equipment one can do everything… I bought the asset with a focus on production of tractors. If I need to increase production or change the processes, I will take my old business plan when I was the owner of the plant, dust it off and start implementing. I do not need research institutions and dozen-year work,” he said.
Yaroslavsky said that Ukraine, Russia and even Cuba buy tractors made by Kharkiv Tractor Plant.
Explaining the debt structure to banks, he said that early June a one-year debt rescheduling plan was signed with banks.
“Earlier an amicable agreement with Ukreximbank was signed. It included payments of debts starting from 2035 during 30 years,” he said.
He said that the rest of the plant’s debts are debts to the tax service.
“Taxpayers accrued UAH 400 million, while in fact this is UAH 109 million to be paid in installments, according to all documents and the payment terms agreed earlier,” the businessman said.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – UJV Rez a. s. (the Czech Republic) will design data for revising a feasibility study to build reactors three and four of Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant (NPP). It will concern technical characteristics and reliability indicators for Skoda JS VVER-1000 reactor and the blueprints for safety systems.
According to a report of National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom in the Visnyk Derzhavnykh Zakupivel public procurements bulletin, the cost of the contract signed on June 30, 2016 is EUR 272,600 (VAT not included).
UJV Rez will also assess safety of the reactor for normal exploitation, project and serious accidents.
The Czech company is to provide the data before November 2016.
Energoatom said that the revised feasibility study would help to make the final decision by Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers, new legislation on placing, designing and building reactors three and four of Khmelnytsky NPP.
According to the tender documents, the main option for fuel for Skoda JS VVER-1000 reactors with a projected lifespan of 50 years is Westinghouse fuel assemblies and an alternative fuel is Russia’s TVEL fuel.
Energorisk LLC (Kyiv) with an offer of UAH 9.88 million (VAT included) took part in the tender.
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Bogdan Corporation has started producing multipurpose KUNG vehicles (standardized military vehicle) at an automobile plant in Cherkasy.
The corporation said in a press release on Tuesday that this would help the company to diversify risks related to the absence of passenger car production at the plant linked to the collapse of the automobile market in Ukraine.
The plant seeks to make a wide range of vehicles for temporary accommodation of people, equipping laboratories, repair shops, mobile kitchens, radio electronic systems, special equipment and first-aid posts.
According to the report, KUNG can be used with chassis made by the plant: Bogdan truck chassis (MAZ) and Hyundai HD, as well as chassis of customers starting from three-meter to 13-meter chassis.
The KUNG vehicle could be equipped with heating system, air ventilation ducts, electric connectors, lighting, protective earthing and household equipment.
Plant Director Viacheslav Sopit said that today the plant can produce 10 vehicles a month. The cost of the vehicle will depend on its components and equipment.
Ukrainians will be able to work in Lithuania due to assistance to be provided by specialized services and business organizations of both countries. Currently, Lithuania lacks manpower, while there are more than half a million officially registered unemployed specialists in Ukraine. Recently, a delegation of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE), which included representatives of the State Employment Service of Ukraine, met with the Lithuanian Migration Service, the Labor Exchange, and the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists in Vilnius to negotiate job opportunities for Ukrainians in the partner country.
Lithuania has thousands of job offerings, including for skilled professionals that remain unmet. Yet, short-term employment of Ukrainians in Lithuania often requires additional advanced training. The first phase can be carried out at training centers in Ukraine, whereas the second can be completed in Lithuania.
“This moment is very important. After return to Ukraine, our specialists will possess the required skills that are endorsed in Lithuania and Europe in general, supported by respective certificates. This is a good chance of re-training our own specialists step-by-step while enhancing their ability to work under EU conditions,” ULIE First Vice President Serhiy Prokhorov said.
Thus, cooperation in the field of human resources is beneficial to both Ukraine and Lithuania. On this occasion, the ULIE and the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists signed a supplementary agreement to the existing agreement on cooperation between the organizations. The parties will jointly promote the exchange of requests and offers of employment, training and advanced training, and arrange legal education workshops for industrialists and entrepreneurs on human resources processes.
The employment services of both countries and the Migration Service of Lithuania are engaged in the project, they will coordinate the process; ensure its regulatory and organizational support.
Acting Director of the Employment Center in Kyiv region Denys Darmostuk, who was present at the talks in Vilnius as an authorized representative of the Ukrainian Employment Service, pledged support in the employment of Ukrainian citizens and all necessary assistance.
The ULIE and the State Employment Service plan to sign a memorandum of cooperation in Odesa on July 12.
