Business news from Ukraine

GOVERNMENT SETS UP COUNCIL FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has set up the Council for Trade and Sustainable Development, which will be headed by Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister and Ukraine’s Trade Representative Natalia Mykolska, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry has reported on its website. The government made the decision on Wednesday.
“The Council’s task is to organize the work of the advisory group on trade and sustainable development in accordance with the provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on the support of civil society, trade and development,” the report says.
The council will include representatives of government bodies and civil society.

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SRI LANKA AND UKRAINE TO CREATE COMMISSION ON TRADE

Ukraine and Sri Lanka will sign an agreement on the establishment of a joint intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. The corresponding decision was made at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in Kyiv on May 10. The draft agreement establishes the procedure for the establishment and functioning of such a commission, its authorities, the frequency of meetings and the legal status of the decisions it takes.
As reported, in late March, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko approved the composition of the delegation to participate in the negotiations with Sri Lanka on the harmonization of the draft interstate agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments.

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UKRAINE INCREASES GOODS FLOW WITH EU TO $8.581 BLN, TRADE WITH RUSSIA GROWS BY 14.9%, TO $2.615 BLN IN Q1 2018

Ukraine in January-March 2018 increased goods flow with the European Union (EU) countries by 17.7% year-over-year, to $8.581 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said on its website. The central bank said that both exports grew by 26.5%, to $4.058 billion and imports rose by 10.7%, to $4.523 billion. The deficit of balance of trade with the EU narrowed to $465 million from $878 million.
In addition, goods flow with Russia grew by 14.9%, to $2.615 billion. Imports rose by 28.4%, to $1.906 billion, while exports fell by 10.1%, to $0.709 billion. The deficit of balance of trade with Russia grew to $1.197 billion from $692 million.
The share of goods flow between Ukraine and the EU of total Ukraine’s foreign trade in January-March 2018 grew to 37.7% from 35.3% and with Russia to 11.5% from 11%.
In general, exports of goods from Ukraine in January-March 2018 grew by 10.4%, to $22.782 billion, imports – by 11.9%, to $12.359 billion and exports – by 8.6%, to 410.423 billion.

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UKRAINE AND ISRAEL INITIATES FTA AGREEMENT – TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Ukraine and Israel have technically initiated an agreement on the free trade area (FTA), Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said. “This is a technical but important procedural issue that enables us to conduct legal reconciliation of the text of the agreement for further translation it into three languages and prepare the agreement for signing,” she wrote in the Facebook social network on Friday. Mykolska said that before signing the agreement, the parties have no legal obligations.
As reported, Ukraine and Israel completed talks on the signing of the FTA agreement. The agreement foresees the annulment of import duties for 80% of industrial goods from Ukraine to Israel and some agricultural products within quotas. There will be a gradual cancellation of import duties during the transitional periods – three, five and seven years. After these terms end, the duties will be leveled to nil. A certain category of goods falls under partial liberalization.
In turn, Ukraine opens 70% of the industrial goods market for Israeli producers and also abolishes duties on a number of agricultural products immediately after the FTA agreement enters into force, for some products – within three or five years. In particular, Ukraine will partially reduce tariffs for certain seasonal vegetables and fruits from Israel.

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TRADE BETWEEN UKRAINE AND BELARUS 15-16% UP

Growth of goods flow between Ukraine and Belarus was 15-16% in January 2018, Ukrainian Ambassador to Belarus Ihor Kizim has said.
“Our good flow is growing. Now we would reach $4.5 billion and even more… in January 2018, we saw 15-16% growth,” he told Interfax-Ukraine in Kyi v on Tuesday.
Kizim said that in 2017, the figure was 18%.
“We see the upward trend in the past two years after a decline in 2014 and 2015,” the diplomat said, reminding that in 2012-2013 goods flow between Ukraine and Belarus was $8 billion.

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