Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, owned by businessman Rinat Akhmetov, transferred $500,000 to a targeted charity fund for the purchase of protective ammunition and first-aid kits for the Territorial Defense Forces of Zapoprizhia.
“By uniting for the sake of defending the independence of Ukraine and Ukrainians, we are bringing victory closer. The army and the Territorial Defense Forces protect the civilian population, and we are trying to protect and support them in the struggle for state sovereignty, our freedom and independence,” head of the Metinvest Humanitarian Mission Coordination Center in Zaporizhia, director general of Zaporizhstal, Oleksandr Myronenko, who is quoted by the press service of the steel plant, said.
At the same time, it is noted that the Vadym Novynsky Foundation also transferred $500,000 in support of Zaporizhia Territorial Defense Forces.
The total contributions transferred to Zaporizhia Trust Charitable Fund will be used to purchase bulletproof vests, bulletproof helmets and NATO-standard first-aid kits for the defenders.
According to a press release, Metinvest Group has been supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Territorial Defense Forces in the cities where the company operates since the first days of the war. Since the beginning of hostilities, more than 35,000 anti-tank hedgehogs, as well as spiked chains against wheeled vehicles and anti-landing hedgehogs, have been made from Metinvest steel. With the support of the company, the construction of the city’s fortifications continues. Metinvest enterprises provide heavy special equipment and vehicles for the needs of defenders, as well as fuel, batteries and walkie-talkies.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, in European countries. In particular, in Bulgaria there is a Promet Steel plant with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes of rolled metal per year, in Italy – Metinvest Trametal and Ferriera Valsider with a total capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year. In the UK, the company owns the Spartan UK plant, which can produce 200,000 tonnes of rolled steel per year.
The main shareholders of Metinvest are the SCM group (71.25%) of Rinat Akhmetov and Smart Holding (23.75%) of Vadym Novynsky, who jointly manage the company.
Some 18 Canadian companies and organizations, including the National Bank of Canada, Bombardier, Broccolini, KPMG and others, have teamed up to resettle 1,000 families of Ukrainian refugees in the near future, according to a press release from the music and media company Stingray (Montreal, Canada).
“As we watched the conflict unfold and witnessed the forced displacement of millions of Ukrainians, we could not stand by without doing our part. We are impressed by the quick response, active participation of businesses, and interest of all levels of government in making this initiative a reality. Together, we hope to welcome up to 1,000 Ukrainian families, starting in the coming weeks,” President, Co-Founder and CEO of Stingray Eric Boyko said.
“These companies have agreed to welcome up to 80 families each, ensuring that they are well looked after throughout the process. While responding to labor needs, these companies are offering newcomers work, access to lodging, and means of subsistence while preserving these families’ dignity throughout this challenging ordeal,” the report says.
CANADIAN COMPANIES, FUND, REFUGEES, SETTLEMENT, SUPPORT, UKRAINE
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that more than 100,000 people and organizations have expressed interest in supporting Ukrainians who left the country due to the Russian invasion through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
“It’s fantastic that over 100,000 people and organisations have recorded their interest in supporting Ukrainians fleeing the war through the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Thank you to everyone across the country who has stepped up to offer their help so far,” Johnson wrote on Twitter.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena thanked the King and Queen of the Netherlands for supporting the people of Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion.
“My wife Olena and I are sincerely grateful to Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima for the kind words of support for the people of Ukraine. We resist aggressive aggression. Today, more than ever, it is important for us to feel that we are not alone,” Zelensky wrote on his Twitter on Tuesday.
On November 4, 2021, a unique, in the context of Ukraine, event took place at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, dedicated to the creation of a new and unified platform I-Dolina, which is designed to unite the creative industry of our state.
The event was organized by the International Technology Transfer Association represented by its head Artem Honcharenko.
Special attention was drawn to its speakers, namely:
– Oleh Sytnyk – representative of the Information Committee of the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce;
– Ge Jian, Chief Representative of G-Global International Secretariat in China;
– Rostyslav Nakonechny – deputy chairman of the board of IBOX Bank;
– Nadiya Vasilyeva – director of the Digital Transformation Institute, Ph.D. in Economics, ex-CEO of Microsoft Ukraine;
– Andriy Zavadovsky – Principal Engineer, Office of CTO Security at Cisco;
– Svitlana Oleinykova – fundraising expert, managing partner of Synergy Universe group of companies – the first fundraising ecosystem in Ukraine;
– Den Tolmor – producer and writer, Oscar and Emmy nominations;
– Dmytro Kolesnikov – chairman of ARMA Ukraine, founder of UNI.UA;
– Iryna Polischuk – director of Kyiv Junior Academy of Sciences of student youth, candidate of chemical sciences;
– Oleksandr Pavlov – chairman of the board of the Ukraine-Israel Business Council;
– Oleksandr Tepliuk – member of the supervisory board of the International Technology Transfer Association.
Each speaker is not just a specialist in his field, but first of all a person who helps move and develop the creative industry, both in Ukraine and abroad.
Today in Ukraine there are already more than 200,000 specialists directly or indirectly related to the IT industry, and also, as Artem Honcharenko specified, more than a million people are involved in the entire creative industry, which is a huge number in the context of our country.
The IT cluster of specialists, already occupying its niche in the economy of our country, accounts for more than 4% of the GDP, and brings billions of dollars in revenues. However, at the state level there is little legislative and infrastructural support.
And therefore, self-organization, the creation of a single, independent platform can become a new driving mechanism that will accelerate the process of formation and development of the entire creative community of our state.
Each speaker expressed not only his vision of the future of this industry, but also supported the initiative to create a platform as a new unique tool.
Grant support, support for startups, copyrights, cooperation with foreign enterprises and organizations, as well as the creation of infrastructure facilities are just part of what the residents of the I-Dolina platform can soon receive.
Already this year, according to Artem Honcharenko, the founder of I-Dolina, for the first time in Ukraine, a competition will be held among developers, architects and building educational institutions for the Best Developer for the Creative Industry, the Best Architectural Project for the Creative Industry and the Best Educational Institution for the Creative Industry.
Next year, a joint event is planned with the Junior Academy of Sciences, where issues of monetization of science based on the new I-Dolina platform will be discussed, which will provide an additional incentive for young scientists and inventors.
A special place on the I-Dolina platform is given to cooperation with the educational institutions with which memorandums of cooperation have already been signed, namely Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Ternopil Puluj National Technical University, etc.
Also, agreements and memorandums will be signed with international companies and organizations, which will allow the development of the creative industry on the territory of the country, creating the best infrastructure facilities and conditions to stop the huge outflow of personnel from the country.
This measure, according to the participants and organizers, to create I-Dolina will be the first significant step, not only to unite representatives of the creative industry, but also to shape the industry as one of the most influential economic players, which is already influencing the formation of the future of Ukraine.
Particular thanks go to the speakers from the United States, Israel and China, who have already expressed their desire to cooperate on many projects. These countries are not only leaders in the development of technologies, but those who set them as the basis for the future of their countries.
The official presentation of the project “Governance and Local Accountability (Hoverla) Activity” with a budget of $74 million, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), took place in Kyiv.
“After the successful local elections in 2020, when Ukrainians elected representatives of their newly united regions and communities, now is the time to start a new phase in decentralization. Decentralization reform can ensure that all levels of Ukraine’s leadership represent the best modern democratic practices,” U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Ukraine Kristina Kvien said at the project presentation in Kyiv on Monday.
She said that one of the key next steps in decentralization is to adopt an amendment to the Ukrainian Constitution. “This is a long debated step and I encourage you all to work together to complete it,” Kvien said.
In turn, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed that for the irreversibility of the reform, it is important to introduce and consolidate in the Constitution of Ukraine the appropriate changes regarding a new model of local government, the territorial organization of power, built on the principles of decentralization and subsidiarity.
“Regarding the government’s action program in decentralization, I want to say that in order to complete the reform, the government is introducing a number of important measures to decentralize power and reform local government. Relevant bills for their implementation are already being developed,” he said.
According to the head of government, we are talking about the delineation of powers and the creation of appropriate material financial conditions for their implementation, reformatting local government administrations into prefectural-type agencies, improving the forms of inter-municipal cooperation as an effective mechanism for cooperation of territorial communities, introducing a new municipal service, improving the forms of attracting residents to making managerial decisions and determining the procedure for resolving issues of the administrative territorial structure.
“The government focuses on strengthening the institutional and financial capacity of communities and their development,” Shmyhal said. The prime minister said the pilot areas of the project have already been selected, Volyn, Lviv, Poltava, and also add there is a need to expand the geography of the project to other regions and other communities.
Chief of the Hoverla project Gabriel Abraham said the project has already identified the first 25 partner communities from Lviv, Poltava and Volyn regions.
“During the implementation of the project, Hoverla plans to use replicable models and mechanisms to increase support for two more communities with the involvement of partners, associations of local government, other civil society actors and government agencies,” he said.
Abraham said the project is designed for five years, until 2026. “The activities of Hoverla are based on three principal goals. The first goal is to support policies and laws. The second goal is to support local officials. The third goal is to support the interaction of citizens with their officials,” the project manager said.
