KYIV. Oct 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the signing of an agreement to open an office of the World Food Program in Ukraine.
Corresponding Cabinet decree No. 1106-r of October 28, 2015 has been posted on the official website of the Ukrainian government.
The person authorized to sign the agreement on behalf of Ukraine was Ambassador to Italy Yevhen Perelyhin.
The World Food Program is the world’s largest humanitarian organization which provides 4 million tonnes of food anually. It was founded in 1963 as an agency to provide food under the UN and is engaged in providing assistance to the poor in developing countries and fighting against hunger and poverty.
KYIV. Nov 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers has included representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in a working group to prepare recommendations and proposals for the government on the privatization and terms of the sale of state enterprises.
The decision is stipulated in government decree No. 849 of October 21.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers on June 24, 2015 established a working group led by the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) to prepare recommendations for the government on privatization. The government also defined the members of the group: its deputy head is the SPF deputy chairman, the secretary is a fund representative. The group also includes the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, the Senior Adviser to the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, the Deputy Minister of the Cabinet, the First Deputy Finance Minister, the First Deputy Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, the director of the department for effective state property management at the Secretariat of the Cabinet, and the state commissioner of the Antimonopoly Committee.
KYIV. Nov 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and Australia have reached an understanding on the key issues of a future intergovernmental agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, Head of the European integration department at the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry Mykhailo Bno-Airiian wrote on his Facebook page.
“We’ve managed to reach an understanding on the key sections of the new agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy between the Ukrainian and Australian governments and lift all outstanding problems. Now we are to start interior procedures for preparing for signing the agreement,” he said.
He said that the four-day negotiations with a delegation of the Australian Safeguards and Non-proliferation Office (ASNO) finished on October 29.
As reported, Ukraine is holding talks on purchasing uranium concentrate in Australia and Kazakhstan.
KYIV. Nov 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker after talks on October 26 made a statement, which, in particular, concerns the development of a roadmap for taking steps aimed at attracting private capital.
“As a result of our consultations, both sides developed a roadmap featuring several short-term, actionable steps that will further increase business confidence and attract private capital. Both sides underscored the urgency of such steps and the importance of actions by both Ukrainian government officials and the Verkhovna Rada to deepen the said reforms,” reads a joint statement by the officials.
“With the support of the United States, Ukraine will intensify anti-corruption efforts through reforms in the Prosecutor General’s Office and implementation of judicial reform, improve tax administration to ensure a level playing field for all companies, reduce gas royalty rates to encourage investment by world class firms, continue deregulation and eliminate unnecessary licensing and permitting, approve and implement anti-piracy legislation to support intellectual property rights, fully execute an e-procurement system and complete accession to the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement,” reads the document.
“Ukraine also underscored its commitment to move forward on putting in place agricultural standards that will attract investment; development and implementation of a thoughtful and transparent privatization plan that provides genuine opportunities for international investors; and civil service reform,” according to the posting.
KYIV. Oct 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Some 518 farmland parcels with a gross area of 11,960 hectares (ha) were leased out at land auctions in January-September 2015, the State Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre reported on Thursday.
According to the report, thanks to leasing out land parcels local budgets would obtain over UAH 16.286 million in rent rates.
“Land auctions are the most transparent mechanism, as well as appropriate from the economic point of view, for managing land. Open competition itself offsets risks of corruption,” reads the report, citing Agency Head Maksym Martyniuk.
He said that local budgets receive three times more funds on average than they spend on the organization of trading.
The largest number of land parcels was leased out to investors in Volyn region – 2,253 ha with annual rent rates of UAH 1.617 million. Some 1,357 ha of land for UAH 1.957 million of annual rent rates were leased out in Ternopil region, 1,862 ha for UAH 3.8 million in Lviv region and 595 ha for UAH 562,000 in Kharkiv region.
However, no land auction was held in Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Odesa region over the period.
“The State Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre has instructed heads of the territorial divisions of the agency to stir up work on holding land auctions,” reads the report.
KYIV. Oct 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a project which includes the provision of $85 million to Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) to replenish its working capital.
EBRD Senior Adviser for External Affairs Anton Usov told Interfax-Ukraine that the decision was made on October 28.
MHP will use these funds to replenish its working capital related to the cultivation of crops and feed production and purchase equipment for the soybeans plant.
MHP is the largest poultry producer in Ukraine and it is also engaged in the production of grains, sunflower oil, and meat.
MHP in 2014 saw poultry sales rise by 18% in comparison with 2013, to 525,460 tonnes. The net loss of MHP in 2014 totaled $412 million against $162 million in 2013, while its revenues over last year decreased by 8%, to $1.379 billion.
