Kovlar Group LLC has invested tens of millions of hryvnia in the development, testing, and production of fire-retardant materials since 2015 and continued to invest after the start of the war, company director Konstantin Kalafat said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, the investments were directed towards creating proprietary formulas, laboratory and fire testing, forming a research base, purchasing equipment, and scaling technologies to an industrial level, and during the war period, also towards maintaining production continuity and adapting to power outages.
He separately noted that the company regularly allocates about 20% of its profits to R&D, including laboratory equipment, testing, and technology upgrades.
Kovlar Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Kyiv and is the largest manufacturer of passive fire protection products in Ukraine. According to OpenDataBot, the company’s authorized capital is UAH 1.2 million, and the ultimate beneficiaries are Konstantin Kalafat (40%), Andrey Ozeychuk (35%), and Lyubov Vakhitova (25%). The company’s revenue for 2024 amounted to UAH 91.3705 million, which is twice as much as in 2023, and its net profit was UAH 13.4 million, which is 1.7 times more than in 2023. In the first quarter of 2025, the company’s revenue amounted to UAH 13.5 million, with a net profit of UAH 1,983,000.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in mainland China’s economy fell by 5.7% in January to 92.01 billion yuan ($13.4 billion), according to the country’s Ministry of Commerce. The manufacturing sector attracted 26.09 billion yuan, while the service sector attracted 64.04 billion yuan. Investment in high-tech industries increased by 0.6% year-on-year to 33.75 billion yuan.
FDI from Germany to China grew by 86.6%, from Switzerland by 57.4%, and from Singapore by 10.9%.
At the same time, 5,306 new enterprises with foreign capital participation were registered in the country last month, which is 25.5% more than in January 2025.
As reported, FDI fell by 9.5% in 2025.
The American company Gulf intends to open a network of gas stations in Uzbekistan and invest in the aviation industry. This was announced by the company’s vice president Craig Kramer on February 18 in Washington at a meeting of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev with representatives of American business and financial institutions.
According to him, over the next two years, the company plans to launch at least 100 modern and convenient gas stations that will meet Western standards.
“They will be built according to Western standards and provide high-quality fuel. During this period, we will invest at least $150 million in retail assets. The financing is fully secured. Each facility will be modern and unique in terms of volume and design,” he said in a story on Uzbekistan 24 TV channel.
In addition, it is planned to create transport centers for tourists and transit carriers along the highways.
“These projects will create at least 30 new jobs at each facility. In total, more than 3,000 new jobs will be organized for Uzbek citizens,” the Gulf representative said.
Kramer said that he had received proposals from the country’s regions on infrastructure development.
“I have received specific proposals from all the khokims of Uzbekistan’s regions to develop nearly 200 gas stations across the country. This clearly demonstrates that your country has an open business climate and a high level of trust in investors,” he said.
The company also intends to introduce modern technologies and develop the aviation sector.
“We will launch mechanisms that provide modern amenities for retail and corporate clients. Along with retail, we are also investing in aviation. About $50 million will be invested in the aviation sector through Gulf Aviation,” Kramer said.
According to him, this will provide Uzbekistan’s rapidly growing aviation industry with a safe and stable fuel supply, as well as establish a reliable supply system for local and international airlines.
Gulf’s operating base in Central Asia is planned to be located in Tashkent.
“This will be another important step towards transforming Uzbekistan into a center of regional logistics and retail infrastructure,” the company representative emphasized.
The fuel for the stations will be purchased at the Republican Commodity Exchange on general terms and conditions, as well as imported.
Ukraine could increase its annual agricultural exports from $24.2 billion to over $100 billion by shifting from exporting raw materials to increasing the production of deeply processed products, which would require $85 billion in investments, said Leonid Kozachenko, president of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC).
“We have the best opportunities among other countries, as almost 30% of the world’s black soil is concentrated in Ukraine. However, it is surprising that a country like the Netherlands, with 4.5 times less land, produces food and derivative products worth about $108 billion. They use less than 20% of their own raw materials, import 80%, but rank 2nd or 3rd in the world, while we, with our raw materials, are only in the third ten,“ he said at the conference ”Profitable Agribusiness 2026.”
According to the expert, the total capitalization losses of the agricultural sector from the Russian Federation’s military aggression are currently estimated at more than $120 billion, while direct losses amount to $11.5 billion. In particular, almost 4.7-5 million hectares of land remain mined or contaminated with heavy metals. Livestock losses amount to 5 million chickens, 350,000 pigs, and 150,000 cows. In addition, more than 7,000 units of agricultural equipment and hundreds of logistics facilities have been lost.
Kozachenko expressed confidence that if the genetic potential of plants and animals is realized by at least 90%, Ukraine will be able to reach production levels of 150 million tons of grain and oilseeds, 25 million tons of milk, and up to 10 million tons of meat.
To realize this potential, according to the UAC president, Ukraine needs to attract $85 billion in investments over the next 10 years. These funds should be directed towards the development of the food, pharmaceutical and perfume industries ($37 billion), livestock farming ($18 billion), crop production ($8 billion), irrigation restoration ($7 billion) and bioenergy development ($5.5 billion). Another $10 billion should be allocated to logistics, horticulture, and greenhouse farming.
To stimulate the development of the agricultural sector, the UAC proposes introducing land and network connection incentives for deep processing plants, introducing a 25% subsidy for equipment, and creating a specialized mortgage banking institution. It is also proposed to involve international companies in the certification of products according to European standards directly in Ukraine.
“We have found financial resources of over $50 billion that were ready to be given to us to create the first mortgage bank in Ukraine. We have everything we need to launch this mechanism, so let’s work together to convince officials to start using it. We really need to cross the $100 billion gross output threshold, and this should be our strategic priority for the next decade,” Kozachenko emphasized.
The UAC president also announced joint proposals from a number of agricultural associations to accelerate the privatization of state-owned enterprises that can be involved in processing chains and to stimulate the development of industrial parks with special fiscal conditions. In particular, agricultural associations propose introducing subsidies of 10% for enterprises that use domestically produced deep-processed raw materials in their production and providing state guarantees to foreign creditors for the purchase of technological equipment.
An important aspect remains the digitization of the industry, in particular the creation of digital platforms for entering global markets, following the example of the Ukrainian resource Allbiz, which specializes in e-commerce and structuring offers in the B2B sector, as well as the introduction of European licensing practices through accredited offices of international certification companies, the UAC president concluded.
In 2025, Nestlé fully implemented its investment plan in Ukraine in the amount of UAH 9.5 billion and intends to increase capital investments in its new production site in Smoligov (Volyn region) to EUR70 million by the end of 2027, said Alessandro Zanelli, CEO of Nestlé in Ukraine and Southeast Europe, in a column for NV.
“At the beginning of the year, I announced that we planned to invest about UAH 9.5 billion in Ukraine, and we have fulfilled this forecast. In 2025, we achieved approximately double growth,” he wrote.
Zanelli named the launch of a new factory in Smoligov in April 2025 as a key industrial project of previous years. The initial investment in the facility amounted to EUR 43 million, but the company plans to expand its capacity. By the end of 2027, the total investment in this site is expected to reach EUR 70 million. The factory’s design capacity will allow it to produce 40,000 tons of vermicelli per year, which will be exported to Europe, the US, and Mexico.
Zanelli specified that production in Smoligov is highly automated, which allows for twice as few staff, but requires more highly skilled workers. To this end, the company has opened its own production academy.
In addition to industrial and commercial investments, Nestlé has allocated nearly $18 million to the Ukraine, WeCare program, which focuses on the safety, physical, and mental health of employees (excluding the cost of setting up shelters). The company also invests around EUR10 million annually in modernizing and improving the quality of its existing production facilities.
The CEO of Nestlé in Ukraine also announced that he will be moving to the position of head of the company’s Eastern European division in 2026 and leaving the Ukrainian office.
Nestlé began operations in Ukraine in 1994 with the opening of a representative office. In 1998, it acquired a controlling stake in ZAO Lviv Confectionery Factory Svitloch, and since 2018, it has owned 100% of the company’s shares. In May 2003, Nestlé Ukraine LLC was founded in Kyiv, and at the end of the same year, Nestlé became the owner of 100% of the shares of Volynholding.
In 2010, Nestlé SA acquired Technocom LLC in Kharkiv, a manufacturer of instant products under the Mivina trademark. In 2012, Nestlé Business Service (NBS Europe) was established in Lviv, which is one of seven Nestlé service centers in the world and provides support services to Nestlé divisions in more than 40 countries around the world.
Nestlé’s business in Ukraine is represented by the following areas: coffee and beverages, confectionery, culinary products (cold sauces, seasonings, soups, instant foods), baby and special nutrition, ready-made breakfasts, and pet food.
Central Asia attracted about 57% of all investments from Asia to the Eurasian region, with a total volume of US$68 billion. Uzbekistan became the main driver of growth in the region: over the past year and a half, the volume of investments from Asian countries has grown from US$11 billion to US$22.6 billion, accounting for about 62% of the total investment growth in Central Asia.
Despite the global downturn, the inflow of Asian investment into the Eurasian region in 2024–2025 reached almost US$20 billion. Almost half of this growth (US$9 billion) was provided by the Persian Gulf countries. The total volume of accumulated mutual investments reached a record US$176 billion by mid-2025.
The largest investments came from the United Arab Emirates ($16.1 billion), Saudi Arabia ($4.2 billion), Qatar ($2.4 billion), and Oman ($1.1 billion). Up to 96% of all investments from the Gulf countries are directed to Central Asia.
