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.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has held a meeting with the management of General Electric, Sumitomo and Marubeni prior the meeting of the National Investment Council on Friday.
They discussed the implementation of the contract concluded at the beginning of the year between PJSC Ukrzaliznytsya, PJSC Ukreximbank and General Electric U.S. regarding procurement, modernization and leasing of locomotives, the presidential press service reported.
The president informed of the opening of the Beskydsky railway tunnel, which will expand Ukraine’s transport and export opportunities.
General Electric Vice President Jamie Miller praised the course of reforms in Ukraine that contribute to the country’s development.
The parties discussed the participation of General Electric in the implementation of other projects, in particular, rural medicine project.
He also met with leaders of the Japanese companies Sumitomo and Marubeni.
The president noted the effective cooperation between Ukraine and Japan.
Poroshenko thanked the Japanese side for its large-scale projects, including the construction of the Boryspil Airport and the reconstruction of the Bortnychi aeration station.
The president separately noted the assistance of the Japanese side in implementing a number of humanitarian projects in Donbas.
The parties also discussed the issues of cooperation in the field of nuclear safety, energy saving technologies and infrastructure projects.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has opened a new Beskydsky railway tunnel.
“I am confident that this is a symbol of effective cooperation of Ukraine with the European Union, it is a symbol of increasing revenues to the national budget, it is a symbol of creating new high-paying jobs in Ukraine both in the economy and on the railroad,” Poroshenko said at the ceremony of opening the tunnel in Zakarpattia region.
According to him, this tunnel is part of the international transport 1,500-kilometer corridor Trieste-Ljubljana-Budapest-Bratislava-Uzhgorod-Lviv.
The head of state noted that the tunnel “tightly linked” Lviv region and Zakarpattia region.
The president noted that the construction of the new tunnel was started in 2014 (the old one was built in 1886).
According to him, 60% of the export flow, which is transported by rail, goes through the Beskydsky tunnel.
Poroshenko said that the old tunnel allowed 40-45 pairs of trains a day, while the new tunnel more than 100 at a speed of 60 km/h, which is 20 km/h more than the speed in the old tunnel.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s income in 2017 has totaled UAH 16,303,874, of which 18% were returned to the state in the form of personal income tax levied on the wages and the deposits, and 1.5% in military tax. “The total amount of income received by Petro Poroshenko in 2017 is UAH 16,303,874, of them UAH 336,000 is salary, which the head of state annually remits to charity, and a total of UAH 15,795,874 in interest on deposits. These and other data can be found in the electronic declaration of Petro Poroshenko for 2017, which will appear in the public domain today,” according to the press release posted on the president’s website on Friday. The amount of funds on Poroshenko’s bank accounts have decreased over a year by $430,000.
According to the law, the president declared the expenses for the previous year – including the funds that were spent on vacation. This money was officially transferred in non-cash form from previously declared own accounts in compliance with the banking and tax legislation of Ukraine.
The report says that the amount of declared vacation expenses is half the figure that appeared in the media. “Not a penny was spent from the state budget,” the press service assured.
Last year, Poroshenko did not receive dividends from enterprises, whose ultimate beneficiary he is.
