Page 38 - UKRRptNov20

In Britain on October 8, President Zelenskiy signed a memorandum for a 10 year, $1.6bn (£1.25bn) loan to build 10 new fast attack boats for Ukrainian Navy​ for use in the Black Sea. Armed with eight ship-killer Neptune missiles and carrying a crew of 35, the 56-meter Barzan class boats are to have a range of 1,800 nautical miles, the equivalent of the voyage from Odesa to the Kerch Strait and back. The first two boats are to be built by BAE Systems Maritime, possible at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The other six are to be built in Ukraine.
6.1.4​ Budget dynamics - privatization
With no serious Western buyer for Motor Sich appearing on the horizon, Zelenskiy says Ukraine’s doors are open to Chinese investors. ​“Credit and investment, agro-industrial, machine-building, and transport sectors should be mentioned among the priority areas of practical cooperation,” he says in a lengthy interview with Xinhua posted yesterday. “Ukraine has significant scientific and educational potential, rich culture. This provides good opportunities for increasing trade and economic cooperation.” Noting that China is now Ukraine’s top trading partner, he invites Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Ukraine.
Skyrizon, subsidiary of Beijing Xinwei Technology Group, is pursuing a new, multi-prong strategy in its 4 year bid to win control of Ukraine’s Motor Sich, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines. Last month, Skyrizon informed Ukraine’s Justice Ministry that it has started international arbitration, demanding $3.5 billion in compensation. Separately, Skyrizon and its Kharkiv-based partner, DCH Group last week filed an updated joint application with Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to buy Motor Sich. In August, the Committee rejected an earlier application.
Meanwhile, one key opponent of the Motor Sich sale to China is stepping out of the fray this month. Aivaras Abromavicius is awaiting President Zelenskiy’s approval to resign as head of state-controlled arms producer Ukroboronprom, Bloomberg reported yesterday in an article titled “Ukrainian Politics Again Get the Better of a Would-Be Reformer.” While not having direct control over the aircraft engine maker, Abromavicius has been an influential voice opposing ceding the company to Chinese control. He tells Bloomberg: “A fight is underway for which vector development of Ukraine will take, western or eastern.”
The first Ukrspyrt asset has been sold, ​In the online auction Ukrspyrt’s property, Nemyrivske spirit production and storage has been sold for over UAH 55 million. This is the first asset that was auctioned off within the program of the alcohol industry assets privatization aimed at reforming and abolishing the state monopoly over alcohol production in Ukraine. Overall, the SPFU plans to put up for sale 41 distilling plants and 37 additional plants that are the part of Ukrspyrt concern.
38​ UKRAINE Country Report​ November 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com