If presidential elections in Ukraine were held in the middle of June 2018, Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko would receive the most votes, followed by Civil Position Party leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko and Opposition Bloc leader Yuriy Boiko, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Rating Sociological Group.
Some 16% of respondents said they would vote for Tymoshenko, 11.7% for Hrytsenko and 10.5% for Boiko, according to poll results, according to which showman Volodymyr Zelensky would receive 9.3%, with Radical Party leader Oleh Liashko, musician Sviatoslav Vakarchuk and acting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko receiving 8.6%.
Some 52% of those polled said they would not vote for Poroshenko under any circumstances, with 30% saying the same of ex-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Liashko’s anti-rating was 23.8%, followed by Boiko with 23% and Tymoshenko with 20.8%.
Some 66% of those polled said they thought the presidential elections would not be free and fair, with only 12% believing the opposite. Some 22% had difficulty answering the question. Almost 64% favored punishing candidates who will give “material assistance” to people in exchange for votes, while 23% are not against receiving “material assistance.”
The survey was carried by means of face-to-face interviews from June 14 to June 24, 2018. Some 2,500 Ukrainian citizens over the age of 18 comprising a representative sample by sex, region and type of residence took part in the survey, which has a margin of error of no more than 2%.
BOIKO, CANDIDATE SURVEY, HRYTSENKO, POROSHENKO, YULIA TYMOSHENKO
Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein Alois advocates the increase in investment of his country in the Ukrainian economy. “We talked about expanding economic cooperation. There are Liechtenstein firms that are already working in Ukraine… We talked about the possibility of developing this cooperation and attracting more Liechtenstein investments to Ukraine,” the prince said in a statement to the press after a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. He said that in recent years Liechtenstein participated in various projects in Ukraine – both in supporting the reform process and in the humanitarian sphere.
In turn, Poroshenko said that half of the investments that come from Liechtenstein to Ukraine are directed to industry. “This shows the long-term and strategic nature of Liechtenstein investors’ plans for Ukraine,” the head of state said.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko within the framework of the National Investment Council has met with President of Turkey’s Turkcell company Ahmet Akca and discussed the prospects of supporting the program of rural medicine.
“The interlocutors discussed the prospects of involving this company in the program of support for rural medicine in Ukraine, in particular taking into account its extensive experience in providing similar technical equipment in medicine, education, etc.,” reads a report on the presidential website.
The president of Ukraine noted that in accordance with his agreements with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraine and Turkey had significantly increased their cooperation, especially in the economic sphere.
The parties are also finishing preparations to the meeting of the Strategic Council of the two countries, which should take into account the issues of cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey in the security, military-technical sphere, road construction and telecommunications, including the use of the Turkcell potential.
The president noted a “very responsible attitude towards doing business in Ukraine” of this company.
“I am grateful for your decision to increase the volume of investments into our country,” Poroshenko added.
The Turkcell chairman, in turn, thanked the president for an opportunity of his company to take part in the work of the National Investment Council.
“It was a very productive and effective meeting. I am particularly impressed with its spirit and positive energy,” Ahmet Akca noted.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and President of Azerbaijan’s SOCAR state-owned oil company Rovnag Abdullayev at a meeting in Kyiv discussed prospects of expanding cooperation in the sphere of supplies of high-quality aviation fuel and the possibility of its production in Ukraine.
The press service of the head of state reported on Saturday that the SOCAR president thanked for the opportunity to take part in the session of the National Investment Council under the President of Ukraine. He said that the company “feels comfortable in Ukraine and develops rapidly.”
The parties discussed the “Turkish projects” of the company, the involvement of Ukraine in them and the prospects for further development of the oil refining complex in Ukraine.
“Next year, after the completion of strategic projects in Turkey, all attention will be paid to Ukraine. As development here is very successful,” the president of SOCAR said, adding that “in ten years in Ukraine, good conditions for business have been created just recently.”
Poroshenko pointed out the strategic nature of cooperation between the two states.
“I believe that we must take full advantage of those opportunities for the development and deepening of cooperation, including in the energy sector,” the president said. He also pointed out the importance of using this potential to diversify energy supply to Ukraine.
The parties also discussed the possibility of expanding cooperation in the supply of high-quality aviation fuel and its possible production in Ukraine given sharp increase in the air passenger traffic at Ukrainian airports, in particular, Boryspil, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and other Ukrainian cities.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is one of the largest operators of the world fuel and energy market. The key areas of the company’s activities are: development of new deposits, oil and gas production, refining of oil products, trading and research activities.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is confident that Ukraine will continue cooperation with international financial institutions (IFIs).
“It is clear that the achievement of macroeconomic stability has become possible, first of all, thanks to cooperation with international financial institutions. I am firmly convinced that we will continue cooperation in the future, because we are the only team in Ukraine’s history that ensured the implementation of six consecutive memorandums with the IMF [International Monetary Fund]. Before that, they promised, they took money and forgot to carry out reforms,” the head of state said at a meeting of the National Investment Council in Kyiv on Friday.
At the same time, he added that the IMF funds are sent to the country’s forex reserves, which in the past four years grew 3.5-fold, to $18 billion.
“Despite the fact that Ukraine paid more than $4 billion this year, forex reserves now amount to $18 billion. Compare with the situation that was late 2014 – early 2015: forex reserves – $5 billion, and you had to pay $8 billion. How could we avoid default? They believed us, and today the most difficult period also passed, and in these four years the forex reserves grew 3.5-fold. This is the answer where are the funds of the IMF. They are carefully preserved in the forex reserves of the country,” Poroshenko said.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has met with President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti, the presidential press service has reported.
“We have a great history of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. Today, the Beskydsky tunnel was opened – the largest infrastructure project in Ukraine, implemented with the help of international partners, including the EBRD. I am sure that every year we can jointly implement a number of major projects in different spheres,” the president of Ukraine emphasized.
The two discussed the state and prospects of Ukraine-EBRD partnership development. The Ukrainian president called on the president of the EBRD to double the funding of the projects and expand the scope of their implementation in Ukraine.
The presidents paid special attention to the implementation of reforms in the banking, energy and energy efficiency spheres.
They noted that the meeting of the National Investment Council to be held on May 25 should be an important event for presenting the results of the reforms to foreign investors and attracting investments for Ukraine’s economic development.
The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expressed willingness to continue supporting Ukraine on the way of implementation of structural reforms in the economy.
