President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on January 23-24 will make a working visit to Switzerland to participate in the annual World Economic Forum, his press service said. “The head of state will take part in the session on the Strategic Outlook for Central and Eastern Europe and hold a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of international organizations, world leaders, and representatives of leading business circles of the world,” the message says. The president of Ukraine will also chair the second meeting of the National Investment Council, which will be held in Davos.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will take part in the plenary session of the first Forum of the Regions of Belarus and Ukraine, which will be held in Gomel on Friday, the presidential press service of Belarus has reported. “It is expected that President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko will also attend the event. Before the participation and speeches at the main platform of the forum, the presidents hold a one-to-one meeting. The main focus of the talks will be on trade development, economic and investment cooperation of the two countries through the prism of the potential of direct contacts at the regional level,” the press service noted.
They also informed that following the results of the forum, the signing of a number of documents and the conclusion of agreements aimed at expanding cooperation in the whole range of areas of Belarusian-Ukrainian cooperation are expected.
A total of contracts for the amount of around UAH 6 billion were signed at the tenth international economic forum “Innovations. Investments. Kharkiv Initiatives!”, Chairperson of the Kharkiv Regional Administration Yulia Svitlychna has said. PJSC Donbasenergo and JSC Turboatom signed a contract to produce equipment for Sloviansk thermal power plant (TPP) at the forum.
“This is a modernization of the 800 MW medium pressure cylinder of the turbine under the import substitution program to replace the Russian-made turbine. The contract was signed for the amount of UAH 250 million,” the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Administration said. Turboatom also signed a memorandum with Siemens (Germany) on joint participation in modernization programs for steam turbines for heat and nuclear power plants. The cost of the contract is up to UAH 2 billion. The plant also signed a cooperation agreement with the Chinese company Dongfang Electric Machinery (for the joint manufacture of power equipment for thermal, hydroelectric, nuclear power plants for the amount of UAH 1.68 million). In addition, during the forum a contract was signed between the Bogdan Motors Automobile Corporation and the state-owned enterprise Electrotyazhmash to supply traction engines for trolleybuses worth up to UAH 150 million.
CONTRACTS, FORUM, INNOVATIONS, INVESTMENTS, KHARKIV INITIATIVES
The Spring Business Forum 2018 event gathered more than two hundred professionals, representatives of state-owned enterprises, banking and business circles. For entrepreneurs, the forum is also a good opportunity to talk about cooperation and business development in an informal atmosphere and meet peers. The forum was opened by Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, who talked about business confidence and cooperation with the authorities. “The basis of any entrepreneurial activity is trust. If it is, then there is development. If it is not, then there is trouble. Therefore, this trust can be built up only when there is communication, when there is an exchange of ideas.”
An interesting statement was made by Country Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for Ukraine Sevki Acuner, who noted the importance of attracting investment. “There is one challenge that we can handle. This is an investment. Foreign or domestic. To do this, we must make products more innovative, look for new approaches and compare our products with those on the global market.”
A success story of a Ukrainian investor was told by Vitaliy Melnyk, the Chief Executive Officer of UDP, a company with a huge number of implemented projects in Kyiv, which launched the LvivTech.City project in Lviv last year. The project is aimed at the development of an innovative ecosystem in Lviv, which includes the construction of modern office space, social and residential infrastructure. The construction is now under way along with talks with potential residents regarding the location of their facilities.
