You're reading: Norwegian prime minister says Ukraine moves in right direction as 5 deals worth $1.5 billion signed

Read the Kyiv Post’s Jan. 25 special World in Ukraine section “Norway Lights Way For Ukraine’s Future.”

OSLO, Norway — At a joint press conference on Jan. 28, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said that she believes “Ukraine is moving forward,” but that there is “still a lot to do in Ukraine, still a need for a reform agenda. There will always be.”

With Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman at her side, Solberg said: “I believe the transparency has increased, the corruption is lower…I would like to believe government is doing well. They could even do more because it’s needed.”

She said the evidence of progress is the willingness of three Norwegian energy firms to invest in wind, solar and hydropower projects in Ukraine. “It testifies to the fact that change made in Ukraine lead to investments,” she said.

Her remarks came after the two prime ministers appeared at the 2018 Norwegian-Ukrainian Business Forum.

At the forum, the Norwegian government offered greater support to help Ukraine become energy independent, while businesses signed agreements (many of them previously announced), including about $500 million worth of investments in solar, wind and hydroelectric power as well as other deals in the agricultural and information technology sectors. There was no price tag announced on the increased Norwegian energy assistance to Ukraine, but officials have said it is expected to reach tens of millions of dollars in coming years.

These are the five agreements that were signed:

1. Norwegian Scatec Solar, represented by CEO Raymond Carlsen, and Ukrainian SM Invest & Construction, related by Oleh Mozgovyi and Roman Sotskyi. The Norwegian renewable energy company signed a purchase agreement with the Ukrainian company SM Invest & Construction. The purchase agreement is for a 150 MW-capacity solar plant in Mykolaiv Oblast worth 180 million euros.

2. NBT

Norwegian renewable energy company NBT’s CEO Joar Gudmund Viken and  owners of Unit Venture Investment Fund Finansovi Strategii from Ukraine, Andrii Zhovner and Yurii Kizilov, signed an agreement to develop a 742 MW wind power plant in southern Ukraine’s Yakymovskij. The project will cost 1 billion euros. The final phase will be fully operational by 2022.

3. Norsk Solar

Norsk Solar managing director Øyvind Vesterdal and Ukrainian director of Pro-Energy, Ruslan Delidon, reached an agreement to jointly build, own and operate a solar power plant in Kyiv Oblast. The intended capacity is 9.2 MW with expected investment of €9.2 million..

4. Geno

Norwegian genetics company Geno Global working with export of Norwegian Red Genetics CEO Lars Kristian Bredahl is working with the head of the Department of Genetics in National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Professor Sergiy Ruban, and Mykhailo Bashchenko, chairman of the supervisory board of the Ukrainian Cattle Breeding Association. The agreement is for bilateral cooperation in development of programs of academic and scholarly exchanges between Ukraine and Norway in animal breeding and genetics.

5. AiSpot

Chairman of the Norwegian ICT start-up AISpot, Harald Jellum, and chairman of the largest automotive company in Ukraine, Atoll Holding Oleg Boyarin to sign a strategic partnership agreement and innovation contract  to create smart innovative mobility solutions for the future based on AI/Machine learning and big data analytics. AiSpot is a digital assistant that lives on your phone and learns about the users behavior and preferences in order to provide the user with relevant information at relevant time matching their interests within mobility, travel and retail.

Prime ministers open conference

Solberg opened the conference by tracing the ancient trade links between Norway’s Vikings and Kyivan Rus, noting business is done in a “friendlier way” now. She congratulated Ukraine’s leaders on reforms successfully undertaken to restore macroeconomic stability, but urged politicians to make the difficult structural reforms needed in the legal, political and economic spheres to attract more investment. Those reforms, she said, must include “fighting corruption,” an issue that has deterred some foreign investors.

“Building a new Ukraine requires sustainable growth,” Solberg said. She praised the higher tariffs for renewable energy that have attracted Norwegian firms to solar, wind and hydro energy projects in Ukraine, which still gets less than 2 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources.

She noted that, given that Ukraine is a “huge market” with a “highly qualified work force,” many more Norwegian businesses will follow the already more than 50 ones today that do business in Ukraine if the business climate improves.

Groysman followed Solberg on stage and pledged that his government is committed to creating “a good and favorable business environment.” He said it is “important to ensure rule of law and have a strong anti-corruption policy.”

He said Ukraine is changing for the better. He noted that the agricultural sector is coming off a record harvest, that public lands will now be opened for energy exploration and that a raft of free trade agreements are now in force — with the European Union, Canada, and most recently, with Israel. He said the country has huge opportunities for foreign investors.

More than 350 business representatives from the two countries participated for the day-long event, taking place at Oslo Metropolitan University. The event is organized by the 104-member Norwegian-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce.

 

 

A livestream feed can be followed here on NUCC’s YouTube channel:

This is the livestream link to the Norwegian-Ukrainian Business Forum. The agenda for the Oslo event can be found here.