Business news from Ukraine

Odesa Filatov Institute develops use of AI for diagnosing eye diseases

The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine will continue to develop technologies for using artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose eye diseases, said Andriy Korol, head of the department for studying the biological action and application of lasers in ophthalmology at the clinic.

“We have now worked out diabetic retinopathy, and at the next stage we will develop in several directions. These may include specific eye diseases, retinal diseases, glaucoma, age-related degeneration, and other diseases that are manifestations of diabetes,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Korol noted that another area of AI technology development that the institute plans to implement will be a system that will allow “to see the symptoms and signs of various diseases, such as hypertension, vascular changes, hereditary diseases, and a number of rare diseases.”

Korol specified that the institute will be able to “launch research on new nosologies every year and a half.”

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Odesa Cognac Factory ended 2023 with loss

PrJSC Odesa Cognac Factory, one of the largest cognac producers in Ukraine, reduced its loss to UAH 6.658 million in 2023 compared to a net loss of UAH 44.434 million in 2022.

According to the company’s report in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), its assets decreased by 2.7% to UAH 989.587 million over the year, while total receivables decreased by 7.9% to UAH 575.267 million.

At the same time, the company increased its revenue by 22.8% year-on-year to UAH 1.166 billion. At the same time, the staff of Odesa Cognac Factory PJSC decreased by 45 people over the year to 300 employees.

According to the report, at the annual shareholders’ meeting on April 29, it is planned to terminate the powers of the supervisory board and make a number of changes to the company’s charter, and then delegate the powers of the current chairman of the supervisory board to sign contractual relations with the newly elected members of the board.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, Odesa Cognac Factory PrJSC is owned by Ukrainian businessman and owner of the Global Spirits alcohol holding Yevhen Cherniak.

Global Spirits is a large international alcohol holding company that unites Khortytsia Distillery (Zaporizhzhia), Odesa Cognac Factory (Odesa) and Ukrainian Distribution Company. The central office is located in New York (USA).

The holding owns more than 15 local, regional and international brands: “Khortytsia, Pervak, Shustov, Morosha, Oreanda, San Marino, Mikado, Medovukha, etc.

Global Spirits products are exported to more than 87 countries.

On February 24, 2022, Global Spirits revoked its license to manufacture and distribute its products in the Russian market due to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.

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Odesa prepares for launch of Odesa-Chisinau air transfer in cooperation with EUBAM mission

The Odesa Regional Military Administration, together with Ukrainian and Moldovan border guards, customs officers and representatives of the EUBAM mission, continues preparations for the launch of the first Odesa-Chisinau air shuttle, said Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration.

“This should speed up the passage of Ukrainians traveling to Chisinau International Airport and relieve the border crossing points (primarily in the area of the Mayaky-Palanka-Udobne checkpoint). Organized transportation of passengers will also reduce the load on the region’s roads by cars and improve the level of service for the population in the field of international transportation,” Kiper wrote in his telegram channel.

He noted that the transfer will be carried out in several stages: passenger registration in the electronic system with a copy of the plane ticket departing from Chisinau, the formation of passenger groups 2-3 days before the departure of flights, after which buses with pre-registered passengers will depart from Odesa. Passengers of the air transfer will undergo customs and border procedures in an expedited mode.

The total planned travel time is 4 hours.

“We will do everything to launch the first buses in the near future,” added Kiper.

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Ukraine and Slovakia discussed possibility of oil supplies through terminal in Odesa

Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Peter Kmec, Vice Prime Minister for Recovery, Resilience and Use of European Funds of Slovakia, discussed the possibility of oil supplies through the Odesa-Brody pipeline.

“We discussed the situation at border crossings, bilateral trade, industrial cooperation, and energy. We are inspired by the implemented project to supply oil through Ukraine to Slovakia through the port terminal and pipeline from Odesa,” Svyrydenko wrote on Twitter (X).

According to her, Ukraine is also interested in providing Slovakia with natural gas storage services in its underground storage facilities (UGS).

As part of the Ukrainian delegation’s visit, Ukrtransnafta CEO Volodymyr Tsependa met with a representative of the operator of the Slovak section of the Druzhba pipeline, Transpetrol’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Martin Ruzhynsky.

According to the Ukrainian operator, the parties summarized the results of cooperation in 2023 and discussed plans for organizing transportation work for the next year.

“The results of the year demonstrate well-coordinated cooperation with our European partners. We want to maintain this result in the future, so we discussed all issues related to oil transportation in 2024, in particular, the modes of pumping through the Druzhba pipeline,” Cependa said in a statement.

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Ministry of Reconstruction is designing new road parallel to existing Odesa-Reni highway

The Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development is designing a new road parallel to the existing Odesa-Reni highway, part of which runs through the territory of the Republic of Moldova (Palanca village), Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Yuriy Vaskov said.

“We are designing a road in parallel with the existing Odesa-Reni highway to organize a connection on Ukrainian territory,” Vaskov said at Infrastructure Day 2023, organized by the European Business Association in Kyiv on Friday.

According to him, the construction of a facility is planned directly on the Odesa-Reni highway.

“In order to solve the problem point by point, we, as the Ministry of Reconstruction, have found funding and want to build a structure to avoid stopping vehicles,” Vaskov said, adding that the issue is being coordinated with the Moldovan side, in particular, with territorial communities in Moldova.

The Deputy Minister noted that there are attempts to illegally cross the border, both successful and unsuccessful.

As you know, a part of the Odesa-Reni highway on the section from Mayaky village to Udobne village (from 51 to 50 km) runs through Moldovan territory.

On June 30, 2011, an act was signed in Chisinau (Moldova) to define and fix the boundaries of the Odesa-Reni highway section near Palanca village and the land plot. Palanca village, as well as the land plot on which it runs. The road section was de jure transferred to the ownership of Ukraine on November 18, 2001, but the act of determining the boundaries on the ground was never determined.

According to the 1999 border agreement, Moldova transferred a 7.7 km section of the Odesa-Reni highway to Ukraine for use, but the territory adjacent to the road near Palanca remained in Moldovan ownership. After the change of power in Moldova in 2009, Ukraine demanded that the territory of almost 1,000 hectares be transferred to its ownership, arguing that Moldova had transferred 450 meters of the Danube coastline to Ukraine in 2002, which enabled it to build the Giurgiulesti seaport.

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Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy in Odesa has put into operation new medical building

In May of this year, the Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy commissioned a new medical building. In May this year, the Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy put into operation a new medical building built within the framework of the state investment project “Creation of a modern clinical base for surgical treatment of eye pathology”.

“Today, both patients and doctors have fully settled into the new building and have been able to appreciate its benefits,” the clinic told Interfax-Ukraine.

The new six-story building has 230 beds. In accordance with the new requirements for clinical facilities, each of the spacious wards has a bathroom, and all the requirements for ensuring the stay of patients with disabilities have been met. The building is equipped with the latest diagnostic, medical, laboratory, anesthesiology and operating equipment.

Currently, the new building houses four out of nine clinical departments, as well as two reception departments – separately for children and adults. In addition, the new building houses a complex of clinical laboratories, physiotherapy and ultrasound departments, and an operating room with 12 operating rooms.

“The commissioning of the new medical building will allow us to provide the most modern equipment and facilities for operating rooms, given the high surgical activity (more than 15,000 operations per year), and to achieve high standards of patient care in the clinical facility,” the institute emphasized.

Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy. Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy of NAMSU was founded in 1936. It is a leading scientific and medical institution and a national center for scientific research in the field of ophthalmology. The Institute has four national centers covering the most common ophthalmic pathologies: Ukrainian Ophthalmic Trauma Center, Center for Pediatric Ophthalmopathology, Center for Ophthalmic Oncology, and Eye Burn Center.

The Institute’s clinic is an ophthalmology center where all types of diagnostics and treatment of eye diseases are performed using innovative technologies.

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