At the 22nd Ukraine-EU Summit, Kyiv signed three agreements with the European Commission and three agreements with the European Investment Bank (EIB) aimed at financing various projects.
In particular, an agreement to finance the EU4ResilientRegions programme for EUR 30 million was signed between the Ukrainian government and the European Commission.
According to the document, the EU4ResilientRegions programme aims at enhancing the resilience of eastern and southern Ukraine to the negative impacts of the ongoing conflict, including to hybrid threats and other destabilizing factors. The action will also address most recent destabilization factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and its social and economic impact. In response to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, this action will aim to enhance Ukraine’s overall resilience, notably to hybrid threats.
The Civil Society Facility programme for EUR 20 million was also signed between the Ukrainian government and the European Commission. The programme focuses on social innovation and active citizenship as core principles for civic engagement and the premises for sustainable democratic societies. It aims to support the capacity of civil society organizations to engage in policy dialogue, to act as governance actors and to drive the country’s social and economic development.
In addition, the Climate package for a sustainable economy (CASE) programme for EUR 10 million was signed between the Ukrainian government and the European Commission.
This programme supports Ukraine in the implementation of measures towards a climate neutral, clean and resource-efficient economy. This includes support in areas such as circular economy and waste management, energy efficiency, emission-free urban transport as well as support to climate mitigation and adaptation.
In addition, this agreement provides for the creation of a joint resource center for climate innovation between Ukraine and the EU and the implementation of “green” measures within the framework of the National Transport Strategy until 2030.
All three documents were signed by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna and Member of the European Commission for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Olivér Várhelyi.
Three agreements with the EIB were signed.
Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov and Vice-President of the European Investment Bank Teresa Czerwińska signed an Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the EIB on financing the Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings in Ukraine project. The loan will enable the installation of modern equipment in buildings, such as meters and energy consumption control systems, the modernization of heating, ventilation and lighting systems, and upgrades to exterior surfaces (facades, roofs, slab insulation, basement ceilings, replacement of windows and doors).
Also a EUR 30 million loan provided for by the guarantee agreement Logistic Network (Ukrposhta modernization and digitalization) was signed by Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy, CEO of Ukrposhta JSC Ihor Smelyansky and Vice-President of the EIB Lilyana Pavlova.
The loan will allow Ukrposhta to start modernizing its logistics network with three new sorting hubs, 20 postal depots and IT infrastructure. The beneficiary is to return the loans within 20 years.
Ukraine and Canada will work on deepening economic cooperation and expansion of the bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreement to the sphere of services and investments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. “Trade, economic and investment cooperation have an important place in Ukrainian-Canadian relations, and we would like to strengthen it. Therefore, our sides will work to expand the scope of the bilateral free trade area agreement to services and investments,” he said in Toronto on Tuesday at a joint briefing with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after their meeting.
Zelensky said that in the near future these agreements will be translated into documents.
“This means that Ukrainian IT specialists and entrepreneurs from different industries will be able to better cooperate with Canada without leaving Ukraine. This means more jobs, better relations between our countries,” he said.
France’s AgroGeneration with assets in Ukraine has signed agreements for the sale of 28,500 ha of agricultural lands (27% of the group’s land bank) in Zhytomyr and Ternopil regions for EUR 19 million.
According to a company report on its website, this price includes land lease rights and biological assets whereas machinery and inventory will be part of a separate sale.
According to the company, after the completion of these transactions, AgroGeneration will operate approximately 80,000 hectares of land in Ukraine with close to 10,000 hectares in the West (Lviv) and 70,000 hectares in the East (Sumy and Kharkiv).
The company said that due diligence, which could lead to a price adjustment, should be finalized by the end of February 2019. A prepayment has already been made to AgroGeneration for approximately 15% of the total price and an equivalent amount will be placed into an escrow account for a maximum period of nine months after completion of the due diligence.
In addition, AgroGeneration has secured its 2019 crop financing from its historical banking partner Alfa-Bank Ukraine for a total amount of $23 million, and will top-up its financing with pre-payment agreements with its usual key trading partners.
The company has already sown, under favorable weather conditions, 34,000 hectares of winter crops, out of a total of 77,000 hectares planned.
As reported, Kusto Agro Pte.Ltd (Singapore), which owns Kusto Agro in Ukraine, was permitted by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to acquire two agricultural enterprises in Zhytomyr region from AgroGeneration – Lischynske LLC and Tereschenko Agrarian Fund LLC.
The French group AgroGeneration was founded in 2007. It grows grains and oilseeds. In Ukraine it currently processes about 120,000 hectares.
In October 2013, AgroGeneration completed its merger with Ukrainian agricultural company Harmelia.
