At a meeting on Friday, the government approved a procedure for providing compensation for the cost of engineering and transport infrastructure built by an applicant/investor with significant investments and the costs of connection and connection to engineering and transport networks necessary for project implementation.
“…approved the last regulatory document necessary to launch the mechanism of state support for projects with significant investments. Investors who are ready to implement projects in Ukraine worth EUR 12 million or more will receive maximum assistance and support from us in the form of support, tax and customs benefits, compensation for the cost of constructed engineering and transport infrastructure facilities or connection to engineering and transport networks, etc.”, the release of the Ministry of Economy quotes First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko.
She added that this year the state budget has allocated UAH 3 billion to support such investors.
The Ministry of Economy clarified that investors who plan to implement a project in Ukraine worth EUR 12 million or more with a duration of up to 5 years in the areas of processing industry, mining for further processing or enrichment, transport, logistics, education, research, healthcare, waste management, art, culture, tourism, sports, and electronic communications will be able to receive state support.
To receive support, the applicant (a resident or non-resident legal entity) must submit an application to the Ministry of Economy together with the relevant documents for the evaluation of a project with significant investments, after which the Ministry must evaluate the investment project and provide an opinion on the feasibility/inefficiency of its implementation and the conclusion of a special investment agreement or refusal to conclude it.
After that, a special investment agreement will be concluded between the Cabinet of Ministers, a local government body (if state support is provided by such a body for the implementation of a project with significant investments), an investor with significant investments, and the applicant.
In addition, to support the preparation and implementation of an investment project with significant investments, the applicant must contact UkraineInvest for information and advisory assistance.
The Ministry of Economy emphasized that investors can receive several types of support from the state, which amount to up to 30% of the amount of an investment project with significant investments, in particular: the preemptive right to use state or communal land plots, compensation for the cost of building engineering and transport infrastructure and the cost of connecting to engineering and transport networks, tax benefits, duty-free import of necessary equipment, as well as exemption from compensation for forestry losses and other costs.
According to the report, projects should include the construction, modernization, technical or technological re-equipment of the relevant investment objects and the creation of new jobs. The investor needs to create at least 10 jobs with a salary at least 50% higher than the average salary in the region for this type of activity, or 30 jobs with a salary at least 30% higher than the average salary in the region for this type of activity, or 50 jobs with a salary at least 15% higher than the average salary in the region for the same type of activity.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine pledges funds for the Affordable loans 5-7-9% program in the draft state budget for 2022, but sees the need to reformat it so that most of the loans are issued for investments in fixed assets, Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko said.
“It is important for us to reformat this program so that most of the loans go to investments in fixed assets,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Marchenko said that the Ministry of Finance held a meeting with commercial foreign-invested banks with, where they talked about proposals to modernize the Affordable Loans program. “We asked to send proposals in writing. But in writing, this does not mean the need to disturb the market, like, everything is gone and the program is not working. This is one of the most effective programs,” the Minister of Finance said.
“But in the future, it is important to focus on investment goals,” Marchenko said.
Earlier, in June, the Forum for Leading International Financial Institutions (FLIFI), headed by the Board Chairman of Raiffeisen Bank, Oleksandr Pysaruk, sent a letter to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the Ministry of Finance with a request to limit the implementation of the Affordable loans 5-7-9% program.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has supported the development of a government targeted program of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy for the development of folk arts and crafts for 2021-2025.
The decision was made at a government meeting on Wednesday.
“Although the craft was and remains the hallmark of Ukraine, today it is in a state of decline and gradual oblivion. The number of craftsmen and organizations is decreasing. Rare artistic techniques and technologies are in danger of extinction. Therefore, folk arts and crafts will exist,” Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to him, thanks to this program, the authorities are trying to: preserve and transfer the knowledge of the masters; reboot the perception of products and services domestically through marketing and communications; increase the capitalization of brands of folk crafts and their export potential; and set up competent distribution and logistics of goods.
“Folk arts and crafts are one of the most important authentic branches of our culture and, at the same time, a promising sector of creative industries. Behind it is the creation of added value and new jobs,” the minister said.
The Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program will show results in the coming month as small and medium-sized businesses need such loans following the recent lockdown restrictions, Prime Minister of Ukraine Dents Shmyhal has said. “I am sure this program [Affordable Loans 5-7-9%] will show results literally in the coming month and this more than UAH 30 billion is exactly the borrowing base which could be refinanced this year,” he told reporters.
The prime minister also said that the government is ready to continue implementation of this program next year as well.
Ukraine has launched the Accelerating Private Investment in Agriculture program according to the agreement signed last year, according to the website of the Ministry of Finance. “On May 20 this year, after Ukraine had conducted domestic procedures, the loan agreement entered into force,” the ministry said.
The loan amount is $200 million, the Finance Ministry noted.
The program should facilitate the creation of the State Agrarian Register and make it publicly available, conduct an inventory of state property lands and include these statements in the state land cadaster, develop a methodology for drawing up land use plans, conduct satellite mapping of the territory of Ukraine, and create an automated notification system for changes in the state land cadaster.
The agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) was concluded on August 27, 2019.
The IBRD is the main lending institution of the World Bank.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar has held online talks with his Turkmen counterpart Berdyniyaz Miatiyev during which they agreed to sign a cooperation program between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Turkmenistan for 2020-2021 in the near future, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said. “The diplomats noted the importance of active development of political, economic and humanitarian cooperation. With this aim they agreed to sign a cooperation program between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Turkmenistan for 2020-2021 in the near future,” the ministry said on Wednesday.
The deputy ministers also decided to hold important bilateral events, in particular a meeting between the foreign ministers of the countries and another meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission for economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, after the quarantine.
The Ukrainian diplomat also said that the countries should unite their efforts in order to minimize a negative impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the economies of both countries and protect the rights and interests of their citizens.
“This will help us to ensure active inter-regional cooperation and successful activities of Ukrainian companies in Turkmenistan, as well as restore mutually beneficial energy cooperation,” the ministry said.
The diplomats also discussed promising areas of cooperation between their countries within international organizations, including the UN.
The sides also agreed on building of active cultural and humanitarian cooperation, learning opportunities for intensification of cooperation in the spheres of science, education and technology, training diplomats and holding online lectures during the quarantine, the ministry said.
