Ukraine plans to open an office of innovations in Jerusalem pursuant to agreements between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko has said.
“Ukraine and Israel are getting closer – an important event. Following the results of the agreements between President Zelensky and the Israeli Prime Minister, we plan to open an innovations office in Jerusalem, which, together with the Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv, will help new industries of the two countries find partners,” he said on Twitter.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on October 25, 2019 put into circulation the 1,000-hryvnia banknote, the NBU has reported on its website.
“From today, banks will be able to get it at the National Bank and give it out to their customers. This banknote is now a valid means of payment in Ukraine. It can be freely used to pay in a retail network or make a deposit with a bank,” the press service of the governor of the central bank said, citing Yakiv Smolii.
According to him, the key advantages of putting into circulation the new banknote with a face value of UAH 1,000 are an increase in the convenience of payments and a reduction in the cost of producing and processing banknotes. The 1,000-hryvnia banknote replaces in circulation some of the banknotes with a face value of UAH 100, 200 and 500. In addition, the appearance of the new banknote will simplify payments and savings.
As the central bank said, the last time the highest face value banknote – UAH 500 UAH was put into circulation 13 years ago. At the same time, Ukrainians’ incomes are rising, prices are changing, therefore, according to theoretical studies used to determine the optimal banknote number by the central banks of the world, to ensure normal money circulation in Ukraine, banknotes of a higher face value than UAH 500 are needed.
According to the press service, the new banknote combines advanced design and money security technologies.
“The 1,000-hryvnia banknote is the highest face value our national currency has today. It is therefore well protected. This banknote contains more than 20 modern security elements, including two modern optically variable elements. Everyone can independently verify its authenticity,” Smolii said.
So, turning the banknote in your hands, you can easily check its modern security element – the SPARK OVI element in the form of a crystal flower, which should gradually change color – from golden to jade green. Another innovative security feature is the “window” thread. This partially embedded in the paper purple polymer thread contains the digits representing the banknote’s face value and the trident – the small coat of arms of Ukraine. Tilting of the banknote brings out the kinematic effect, the background image moves in the opposite direction.
The front of the banknote features a portrait of Volodymyr Vernadskyi, an outstanding scientist, one of the founders and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, created in 1918. The building of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is at the back of the banknote.
The 1,000-hryvnia banknote inherits the new modernized design of the upgraded 20, 100 and 500 hryvnia banknotes.
Electricity production by Ukraine’s power grids decreases by 1.4%
Electricity production by Ukraine’s integrated power grids in January-September 2019 decreased by 1.4%, or 1.631 billion kWh, compared to the same period in 2018, to 114.298 billion kWh, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection told Interfax-Ukraine.
Nuclear power plants (NPPs) during this period reduced their electricity production by 0.5% year-over–year (y-o-y), to 60.562 billion kWh. In particular, electricity output by Zaporizhia NPP was 27.858 billion kWh (+0.8% versus January-September-2018), Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP generated 12.898 billion kWh (+9.2%), Rivne NPP 13.428 billion kWh (+18.9%), and Khmelnytsky NPP 6.38 billion kWh (-37.2%).
Thermal power plants (TPPs), as well as combined heat and power plants (CHPPs) and cogeneration plants increased production by 0.5%, to 42.172 billion kWh. TPPs alone increased output by 0.2%, to 34.651 billion kWh, CHPPs and cogeneration plants saw a 1.7% increase, to 7.52 billion kWh.
In January-September 2019, hydro and pump storage power plants reduced production by 38.3%, to 6.161 billion kWh, while isolated generating plants increased output by 17%, to 1.294 billion kWh.
Electricity production by wind farms, solar power plants, biomass plants more than doubled, to 4.109 billion kWh.
The NPPs accounted for 53% of total electricity output January through September 2019 (52.5% y-o-y), while the share of TPPs, CHPPs and cogeneration plants was 36.9% (36.2%) and that of the hydro and pump storage power plants was 5.4% (8.6%). The isolated generating plants accounted for 1.1% (1%), and the share of renewable energy was 3.6% (1.7%).
The resolution approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on October 23 proposes the introduction of a unified state register of pesticides and agrochemicals in Ukraine, Viktor Pohorily, the coordinator of the agrochemical committee of the European Business Association, said on Facebook. “Among the main innovations is the creation of a transparent and understandable system of laboratory powers for ecotox and biological testing, the rejection of paper certificates, the introduction of a unified state register of pesticides and agrochemicals, which will be used by both customs and the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumers’ Rights Protection,” he wrote.
According to the coordinator of the agricultural committee, it is also envisaged to strengthen fight against unscrupulous applicants, improve the system of protection of intellectual property rights.
“Finally, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection will be able to cancel registration if one factory is declared during registration and products are taken from another place,” the expert noted.
In addition, according to him, the government “intends to introduce a new re-registration procedure, which will allow reducing to a few days some procedures that previously took a year, as well as introduce the concepts and criteria of “minor changes” and simplify the conclusion of an environmental expert assessment of materials.”
“The complexity and incomprehensibility of these processes over the past two years has constantly raised questions,” he said.
The volume of construction work in Ukraine in September 2019 increased by 11.3% compared to September 2018, while in August 2019 compared to August 2018 this figure rose by 8.9%. According to the State Statistics Service, the data are given excluding the occupied territory of Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to the agency, the volume of construction work in September increased by 7.2% compared to the previous month (according to seasonally adjusted data, it decreased by 2.1%), while compared to July 2019 this figure decreased by 11.5%.
According to the State Statistics Service, in September 2019 from September 2018 the volume of work increased in non-residential and engineering construction, and decreased in residential construction. According to uncorrected data, the growth in non-residential construction amounted to 14.2%, engineering some 19.4%. The decrease in the volume of work in residential construction amounted to 10.2%.
In addition, in September the volume of construction work in construction of residential buildings compared to August decreased by 4%, non-residential by 3.4%, while in the construction of engineering structures increased by 16.7%.
In January-September-2019 compared with January-September 2018, a drop in the volume of construction work was recorded in three regions of Ukraine, in particular, in Ivano-Frankivsk (by 5.6%, to UAH 2.090 billion), Cherkasy (1.1%, to UAH 1.275 billion), and Odesa (2.1%, to UAH 11.033 billion).
The largest growth in the volume of construction work over the nine months was recorded in Vinnytsia (two times, to UAH 5.892 billion), Chernihiv (1.6 times, to UAH 1.218 billion), and Kherson (1.38 times, to UAH 1.137 billion) regions.
In Kyiv, the volume of construction work for the nine months grew by 24.8% and amounted to UAH 26.966 billion.
During a working visit to Japan Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka, the press service of the head of state reported on Wednesday. “Cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is extremely important for our country, especially in the context of implementing large-scale reforms that are taking place now. Recently, the government approved an action plan for the next five years. We really believe that this program will not be implemented in theory, but in practice. This includes the development of human capital and economy, European integration and improving the security and welfare of Ukrainian citizens,” Zelensky said during the meeting, adding that the implementation of this plan will create a million additional jobs in the country.
The head of state said that the priorities of the current authorities of Ukraine include launching the land market, large-scale privatization, deregulation and simplification of all procedures with the transition to online services, elimination of the shadow economy and corruption schemes, solving infrastructure problems, optimizing the tax system, quickly and comprehensively introducing European and international standards.
The president thanked the agency for supporting Ukraine under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) program.
“We appreciate the technical assistance of Japan to support democratic institutions, ensure macroeconomic stability and concessional lending for important infrastructure projects in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
The president said that one of the striking results of Ukraine’s joint work with JICA was the successful completion of the modernization of the Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) through a soft loan. At the same time, Zelensky noted the importance of implementing the second project, namely, the modernization of the Bortnychi wastewater treatment plant, which will help prevent environmental pollution and increase the safety of people’s lives.
“I hope that in the near future a contract will be signed with the general contractor and construction work at the facility will begin from early next year,” he said.
The president announced Ukraine’s interest in continuing fruitful cooperation with JICA. Important promising infrastructure projects, in particular, may be the construction of a bridge over the Pivdenny Buh River in Mykolaiv as part of the improvement of the southern transport corridor; and preparing a project for the processing of solid household waste.
