President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has held a meeting at which he set the task for heating tariffs to be reduced in Ukrainians’ utility bills in December, since gas prices for the population had previously been reduced. “Gas prices have decreased, but tariffs have not. Why so? We are looking for ways to reduce the price and make Ukrainians receive lower heating bills in December,” he said on his Facebook page, where a video was also posted about the meeting attended by Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Bohdan and his deputy Yulia Kovaliv.
At the meeting, it was said that after lowering gas prices, Ukrainians should receive lower tariffs, but legislatively, it is impossible today to change heating tariffs until May 2020.
“We’ve coped with the gas price. In order for the heat tariff to go down this winter, we have a very short bill, which can be introduced by the president as urgent, and the adoption of this law will lead to the fact that our tariff for the population will decrease. This winter we have already protected consumers from tariff growth, because it has traditionally grown. It will not grow anymore,” Honcharuk said.
Kovaliv, in turn, noted that the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) is authorized to change the tariffs and this issue should also be discussed with the regulator.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that every corrupt official in Ukraine should be punished, regardless of surname, position and the sphere of activity. “Another priority is corruption crimes. Every corrupt official should be held accountable regardless of his surname, we understand whom we are speaking about, position and the sphere of activity. Be sure, as the president of Ukraine, I am your ally in this difficult struggle,” he said on the occasion of the Prosecutor’s Day on November 29.
Zelensky wished the prosecutors every day to appear in “high-profile news, in which the numbers of 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 will appear, but this will not be the amount of bribes, but the years that criminals and corrupt officials received due to your professional work.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not in favor of hasty and ill-conceived retrospective amendments to legislation that worsen the condition for doing business in the country, the head of state said at a briefing in Vilnius on Wednesday after a meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
“I want to confirm once again: my team and I will not take any hasty and ill-conceived steps related to retrospective changes in our legislation that would worsen the conditions for doing business in the country,” Zelensky said.
“We respect any investor who already works in our country. This applies to everyone, regardless of sector and business, from a restaurant to the green energy sector,” the president added.
He said that the second Lithuanian solar power plant was opened in Ivano-Frankivsk region on Wednesday (the plant of Lithuania’s Modus Grupe with a capacity of 14 MW in the village of Zalukva).
“It’s pleasant that Lithuanian companies not only stay on the Ukrainian market, but also continue developing investment projects,” Zelensky said.
According to him, Ukraine expects the boost of investment activities.
“We are betting on improving the mechanisms of public private partnership, which is one of the tools to attract additional investment in the public sector of the economy,” the head of state said, recalling the recently adopted law on concession.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will pay an official visit to the Republic of Estonia on November 26, and the Republic of Lithuania on November 27.
“During the visit, negotiations are scheduled between the head of state and Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, as well as meetings with President of the Riigikogu (parliament) Henn Põlluaas and Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas,” the press service of the president of Ukraine said.
Also in Tallinn, the presidents of Ukraine and Estonia will take part in the Digital Forum.
During his visit to Lithuania, Zelensky will take part in the twelfth meeting of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and Lithuania.
“During the visit, it is planned to hold separate negotiations between the head of state and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuanian Seimas Speaker Viktoras Pranckietis and Prime Minister of Lithuania Saulius Skvernelis,” it said.
Also in Vilnius, the presidents of Ukraine and Lithuania will take part in the Fifth Bilateral Economic Forum.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Ukraine can build warships on its own, and not just order them abroad.
At a press briefing in Ochakiv on Wednesday night following the examination of three warships returned by Russia, the head of state told reporters that a contract between Ukraine and France on the production of a batch of patrol vessels and technical support services for them is important to Ukraine, however support for domestic shipbuilding should be a priority.
“I’ll be honest, this contract was prepared before my presidency. Today I support this contract. Anyway, our own production is more important to us, [we should] support Mykolaiv and the region so that professionals, who have left because nothing had been constructed here for many years, return home,” the president said.
Zelensky added that Ukrainian Navy Commander Ihor Voronchenko presented him a shipbuilding development strategy.
“We are planning to build corvettes. We have a plan, although you know that any plan should have a real deadline and be supported by the budget,” he said.
In turn, Voronchenko recalled that Ukraine is planning to build four corvettes by 2028.
As reported, a new version of the Corvette State Program approved by the government in November 2017 provides for the construction of four corvettes for the Ukrainian Navy by 2028. The construction of the lead ship will be finished in 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on investors to invest in Ukrainian people, who are the main capital of the country, and reiterated that he personally guarantees protection to each investor. “You are in a phenomenal country. Without modesty, I’ll say that this is one of the most interesting and attractive startups on planet Earth. Yes, for 28 years important reforms were imitated, built a shadowy opaque system. As a result, Ukraine has become a kind of economic underdog. But the new Ukrainian government is too ambitious to put up with such a very unattractive status, and when they say that our chances are low, when they underestimate us, all this adds us adrenaline, determination, strength for a powerful economic leap,” he said, speaking at the Kyiv International Economic Forum on Friday.
Zelensky said that people are the main capital of Ukraine.
“This is the very one Made in Ukraine that we are proud of and which gives us a competitive advantage. After all, the modern global economy is actually an economy of talents. Economic growth in the world is mainly thanks to innovation, while Ukrainians are ready to become pioneers, Ukrainians are able to look to the future and understand the needs of tomorrow. Ukrainians are very talented, hardworking, courageous, ambitious, creative, and this is exactly what your investment needs,” he said, addressing investors.
The president said that Ukraine is well aware that the country needs equal rules of the game for everyone, cleansing the judiciary, overcoming corruption, digitalizing processes, reforming education in accordance with the challenges of the 21st century, laws that are vital for the economy, even when they are unpopular.
“Every day, together with the government and parliament, we are putting all these bills into life,” he said.
Zelensky called on investors to invest in Ukrainians, in Ukrainian youth, in Ukrainian startups, small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine.
“And remember: today, Ukraine is a rough diamond that needs to be cut with internal reforms and external investments to become a real diamond not only in the center of Europe, but throughout the world. And I, as president, guarantee that I am ready to personally protect your every investment, every penny that you invest in each of our Ukrainians,” he said.
The president also said that the video shown before the opening of the forum said that, according to the forecasts of futurologists, until 2050 there will be two main players in the world: China and India, but it was also said that “futurologists are sometimes mistaken.”
“When I decided to run for the post of the president of Ukraine, there were also two other leaders, but futurologists are sometimes mistaken. Therefore, we all have to do everything this time so that futurologists are also mistaken, and among the two columns where India and China are, Ukraine too occupies pride of place,” he said.
