Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a telephone conversation agreed to start work on common investment projects, the Foreign Ministry reports.
“We should focus on the implementation of investment projects with Ukraine in priority areas. We will work on a synergy of opportunities between Ukraine and the UAE to strengthen global food security,” the Foreign Ministry press service said citing Kuleba.
Kuleba, according to the agreements of the leaders of Ukraine and the UAE, reached during the telephone conversation on April 13, noted his readiness to intensify cooperation in investment, trade and economic spheres between Ukraine and the UAE.
Kuleba thanked the UAE for the humanitarian aid provided, as well as for helping bring back more than 3,000 Ukrainian citizens from the UAE and in transit from other regions of the world.
“We are deeply grateful to the UAE for humanitarian assistance, which is extremely important for Ukrainian doctors in the context of the fight against coronavirus. The UAE demonstrates partnership and true friendship,” the minister emphasized.
The foreign minister invited his colleague to visit Ukraine.
Astarta agricultural holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has launched the first phase of a five-year investment program to update agricultural machinery and introduce IT instruments for agricultural management of AgriChain company, which is part of the agricultural holding structure.
According to the statement on Astarta’s website, the investments in 2020 were aimed at purchasing 31 tractors (John Deere), 21 grain, row crops and beet seeders (John Deere, Horsch Maestro, Pöttinger Terrasem, Kinze, Monopil, Amity Technology).
In addition, as part of the investment program, two self-propelled sprayers (John Deere), four cultivators (Amity Technology), three seed harrows of Ukrainian production and ten sets of vacuum systems for the conversion of row seeders were purchased.
New John Deere tractors with a capacity of 345 hp equipped with accurate navigation and telemetry systems that will integrate with AgriChain Farm and AgriChain Scout modules.
“The data obtained in real time will provide an opportunity to receive information, form informed decisions and create accurate daily tasks to increase technological field operations,” Astarta reported.
The agricultural holding said that in a few weeks Astarta will begin the spring sowing campaign, preparations for which are ongoing. In particular, winter wheat fertilizing is being completed and soil is being prepared for sowing spring crops.
The company’s crop rotation in 2020 will not change, since traditionally the main spring crops are sugar beets (35,000 hectares), corn (65,000 hectares), soybean (28,000 hectares) and sunflower (41,000 hectares).
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It consists of eight sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 243,000 hectares and dairy farms with 25,000 animals, seven elevators, a biogas complex and a soybean processing plant in Poltava region (Globino Processing Plant LLC).
After three years of profitable work in 2018, Astarta received a net loss of EUR 21.11 million. Its revenue decreased by 18.8%, to EUR 372.22 million, and EBITDA fell by 52.4%, to EUR 56.87 million in 2018.
The AgriChain Farm module is designed to operate and communicate across all production services. It combines all the stages and processes of the production chain: from planning to execution and reflection. The AgriChain Scout information system is currently at the final stages of testing. It combined monitoring of the state of crops, agrochemical field certificates, meteorological data, plant vegetation status (NDVI), systematic monitoring of crops and assessment of its condition, etc.
Other modules are under development and are simultaneously being tested as pilot projects at Astarta’s subsidiary agricultural companies.
The volume of government domestic loan bonds bought by nonresidents grew by 6.1% or UAH 7.2 billion, to UAH 124.9 billion, the Finance Ministry said on its Facebook page last week.
According to the report, thus, as of January 31, 2020, the share of foreigners of the total volume of government bonds issued in Ukraine for the first time exceeded 15%.
“The share of other holders of government bonds in January only decreased: legal entities – by 6.5%, to UAH 24.6 billion, individuals – by 5%, to UAH 9.2 billion, banks – by 2.83%, to UAH 326.9 billion, and the National Bank – by 1.4%, to UAH 332.4 billion,” the ministry said.
In January of this year, the volume of government bonds in circulation decreased by UAH 9.1 billion.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, called on international investors to become “architects of the success of the new Ukraine.” “Ukraine should become an investment mecca of Eastern and Central Europe. The main driver for economic development is the ability to make profit. And we are one of the few countries that now allows earning such a high return on invested capital. Today we are underinvested and disliked,” he said.
Zelensky called on investors to invest in Ukraine.
“Today, the pragmatic and petrified world is sorely lacking a miracle. And the world economy, which is on the verge of a new global crisis, needs an economic miracle. Ukraine is exactly the place where miracles happen. And my goal is to make Ukraine appear in textbooks next to the cases of Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Therefore, join in!” he said.
The president pointed out that the new Ukrainian authorities are creating equal rules of the game for everyone, cleansing the judicial system, digitalizing processes, implementing vital reforms and adopting vital laws.
“We have everything to become a successful country. Favorable climatic conditions, a very favorable geographic location, an inexhaustible agricultural and industrial potential, and our most valuable resource are incredibly creative and very talented people who are in the top 50 in the Human Capital Index rating,” he noted.
Capital investment in Ukraine in January-September 2019 grew by 12.4%, while in the first half of 2019 – by 12.3%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-September 2019, UAH 379 billion of capital investment was disbursed (excluding the temporarily occupied Crimea, Sevastopol and the JFO area).
In the regional context, the largest increase in capital investment January-September 2019 compared to the same period in 2018 was recorded in Volyn (by 71.1%), Kherson (by 44.2%), Mykolaiv (by 34.7%), Poltava (by 29.3%), Kyiv (by 27.1%), and Dnipropetrovsk ( in 21.8%) regions.
According to statistics, capital investments for the reporting period decreased in Zakarpattia (by 15.3%), Vinnytsia (by 9.8%), Odesa and Chernihiv (by 8.6%), and Rivne (4.4%) regions.
In the industrial context, the largest increase in capital investment in the first nine months of this year was recorded in the field of research and development – by 79%, temporary accommodation and catering – by 67.5%, water transport – by 50.6%, advertising – by 44, 2%, professional scientific and technical activities – by 43.8%.
At the same time, in the field of postal and courier activities, the drop in capital investments amounted to 81.1%, information and telecommunications – 23.4%, agriculture, forestry and fisheries – 11.3%.
The main source of financing capital investment remains the own funds of enterprises and organizations, due to which 73.4% of the total volume of all investments has been used.
A significant share of capital investments was made in machinery, equipment and vehicles – 46.3%, buildings and structures – 45.6% of all investments.
IT company with Ukrainian roots Grammarly has raised a $90 million investment led by General Catalyst, which also led its investment round in 2017 with $110 million, with participation from other existing investors including IVP, and new investors, the company has said in a press release.
Since the first round of investments in May 2017, Grammarly has more than tripled the number of users and has added a number of updates to its product, which, according to a press release, “helps more than 20 million people every day.”
The company also opened its fourth office in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) and doubled the number of team members in offices of Kyiv, New York and San Francisco. It plans in the near future to expand the current office space in Kyiv by additional 1,300 square meters where 130 people can work.
According to the report, the funds raised by Grammarly will be aimed at further expanding the company’s product coverage in order to make it available wherever written communication in English can be used. The company will also continue working on more complex aspects of language and communication, in particular on the development of the recently launched tone detector, to provide users with practical advice on how to adapt it.
Grammarly was founded by Kyiv residents in 2009: Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko and Dmytro Lider. The offices of the company are located in Kyiv, San Francisco, New York and Vancouver.
