Shanghai is developing a number of projects in the agro-industrial sector in Ukraine for a total of $17 million, sees prospects for cooperation in energy, infrastructure, agriculture, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce Zhu Yi has said.
“We now have six direct investment projects of Shanghai in Ukraine worth $17 million, related to agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries. The total volume of contracts that Shanghai concludes in Ukraine reaches $897 million, of which $278 million are related to telecommunications, development and gas production, drilling projects,” she said during the Kyiv Investment Forum 2021 on Friday.
According to her, the trade turnover between Shanghai and Ukraine in 2020 amounted to CNY 4.6 billion.
“I think cooperation between our countries can be mutually beneficial. The better we develop trade and exchange of investments, the more it will create opportunities for innovation and cooperation in energy, agriculture, infrastructure construction, manufacturing of industrial goods and other sectors,” Zhu Yi said.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Wednesday approved the draft decree on the signing of an agreement between the government of Ukraine and the government of the United States on projects in the field of research, developments, testing and evaluation, the authority to sign the agreement was given to Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran, according to the Press and Information Office of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
“The signing of this agreement will give the Ukrainian side the opportunity to: conduct joint research and development work on the development of weapons and military equipment, their individual components; obtain information about advanced defense technologies, trends in their development; conduct of tests and testing of military equipment using equipment and technologies that are not available in Ukraine,” the office said.
The agreement also opens up the possibility of attracting foreign funding for research work by Ukrainian research institutions, as well as increasing the research potential of Ukraine through cooperation with partners in joint projects.
The ministry said that the implementation of the agreements will take place under project contracts within the framework of the agreement concluded between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the U.S. Department of Defense.
“The signing of the Agreement is planned during the visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States and will be another important step in the development of strategic partnership with the United States in the field of armaments,” the Defense Ministry said.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is considering a portfolio of projects in Ukraine for possible implementation in the amount of $155 million, including road infrastructure, agribusiness, commercial property, financial facilities, bank’s president Dmytro Pankin said.
In an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, he said that in 2021 the bank has updated its trade financing mechanism in the amount of $5 million with Creditwest Bank, and also completed operations to provide a number of loans: $15 million to Interpipe to support the company in the debt capital markets and modernization of production facilities, some $20 million to a chain of furniture shopping centers Araks to improve energy efficiency, some $23 million to Epicenter to improve agricultural infrastructure.
With regard to the project announced in 2020 with Halnaftogaz, Pankin said the bank was successfully cooperating with the company, but, unfortunately, could not agree on the price of the operation announced last summer.
“The bank is ready to consider other opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation with the company in the future,” the BSTDB president said.
He also said the bank is developing financing and placement of securities in local currency in member countries to provide loans in local currency to businesses in these countries. According to him, BSTDB was the first multilateral development bank to offer such operations in Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“As for Ukraine, at present the market situation does not allow us to attract local currency by issuing domestic bonds at a cost that would allow us to offer attractive prices for Ukrainian borrowers,” Pankin said.
Ukraine will be able to use loans from international financial organizations attracted by the government to improve energy efficiency through high quality projects, Ima Khrenova-Shimkina, the director of the project on promoting energy efficiency and implementing the EU energy efficiency directive in Ukraine, has said.
“Ukraine has already attracted loans, pays interest on them, has concluded all the necessary international agreements, and our government has fulfilled all its obligations. Projects from cities and regions must now be submitted in order to pour these funds into the Ukrainian economy. But this, unfortunately, is not happening because we do not have enough specialists and well-prepared projects,” she told the Interfax-Ukraine agency during the IV International Coal Conference at DTEK Academy in Kyiv.
At the same time, she pointed out that the funds raised can be used if projects appear that meet all the necessary criteria.
At the same time, the expert expressed hope that this will be facilitated by, in particular, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development and the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine.
As reported, in October of this year, the state energy efficiency agency and the Ministry of Energy signed a memorandum with the German society for international cooperation GIZ, aimed at developing the field of energy efficiency in Ukraine.
Support from the German government and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland is provided to the Ukrainian side within the framework of a new international technical assistance project for promoting energy efficiency and implementing the EU energy efficiency directive in Ukraine, which is being implemented by GIZ. The project is planned to be completed within five years.
Over the past three years, NEFCO (Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, NEFCO) canceled energy efficiency projects in 18 Ukrainian cities due to bureaucratic obstacles, which is approximately 20% of the organization’s investments, and losses from unrealized projects are estimated at about EUR 35 million.
During the Ukrainian-Moldovan political consultations, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Dumitru Sokolan discussed the status of implementation of the agreements reached during the visit of President of Moldova Maia Sandu to Kyiv in January 2021.
“The parties ‘synchronized watches’ regarding the nearest political contacts at the highest and high levels. Vasyl Bodnar informed about the preparations for the inaugural summit of the Crimean platform and the celebrations on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence on August 23-24,” the statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website said on Thursday, March 25.
It is reported that considerable attention was paid to the implementation of cross-border infrastructure projects, primarily the construction of a bridge across the river Dniester in the area of Yampil-Koseuts settlements, the parties positively noted the progress in this case.
“Bodnar and Sokolan emphasized the importance of an early resumption of negotiations between the authorized authorities in order to resolve the entire range of issues related to the functioning of the Dniester hydroelectric complex, as well as to complete the process of demarcation of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The parties checked their positions on expanding the legal framework between the two states in various fields.
A separate topic of the consultations was regional security issues, in particular the threats associated with the presence of Russian military units in the Transnistrian region of Moldova.
The Deputy Minister said that Ukraine is determined to continue supporting territorial integrity and sovereignty of Moldova within the internationally recognized borders, as well as to be an active participant in the negotiation process on the Transnistrian settlement.
“We regard the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of the Transnistrian region of Moldova as a matter of national and regional security,” the ministry’s press service quoted Bodnar as saying.
The parties discussed steps to strengthen bilateral trade and economic cooperation and implement energy projects.
In addition, it is reported that in context of humanitarian cooperation development, Bodnar asked to accelerate the ratification by the Moldovan side of the agreement signed on December 17, 2009 between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova on cooperation in ensuring the rights of persons belonging to national minorities (Ukraine ratified it on October 5, 2010).
The parties discussed ways to deepen cooperation with the EU in context of implementation of the two countries’ course towards European integration. The diplomats also exchanged views on the efforts of the governments of Ukraine and Moldova to counter the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Head of the specialized scientific restoration design institute “Ukrproektrestavratsiya” Vasyl Tymkovych expects to start the selection of projects under the Big Restoration Program from next week.
“Yesterday, for the first time, the future commissions for the selection of the Big Restoration program met. It was announced that next week, apparently, regular meetings will start, where the head of the expert commission, a secretary, will be elected, after which they will be able to start considering the projects if they are prepared by the working group,” he said at the All-Ukrainian forum “Ukraine 30. Culture and Media. Tourism” on Wednesday in Kyiv.
According to the decree, so far only objects in state ownership will be selected, but there is an understanding of the need to include municipal property objects in the list, he said.
Also, the program will include first of all the objects with ready-made documentation and accessible infrastructure.
