NEWSBRIEFS

IMF approves loan tranche to Ukraine

KYIV - The International Monetary Fund on October 29 approved a $78 million tranche of the $2.2 billion three-year credit to Ukraine, Ukrainian News reported on November 2. The IMF had planned to provide Ukraine with the tranche by the end of October, but it had been postponed. Valerii Lytvytskyi, aide to the Ukrainian president, said the postponement of the tranche is due to an "exclusively technical reason" connected with the repayment of Ukraine's $109 million loan to the Chase Manhattan Bank in Luxembourg. A statement issued by the IMF's Kyiv office on October 30 said the Ukrainian government remains committed to the IMF's loan program and that the recent restructuring of Ukrainian short-term bonds to foreign creditors enables the authorities to concentrate on economic and financial reforms. An IMF mission headed by Muhammed Shadman-Valavi had arrived in Ukraine on October 27 and was to work in Ukraine through November 6. The mission focused mainly on working with the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers to resolve the issue of balancing budget revenues with expenses. (Eastern Economist, RFE/RL Newsline)

IMF official questions budget projections

KYIV - John Odling-Smee, director of the IMF's Second European Department, said during a November 2 meeting with members of the Verkhovna Rada's Finance and Banking Committee that the 1999 state budget contains overly optimistic revenue projections. He said the International Monetary Fund has already voiced these objections to the Cabinet of Ministers and recommended that they review the figures. In response to Mr. Odling-Smee's criticisms, Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko has already requested that relevant ministries and departments prepare special measures to increase budget revenues. During his meeting with Mr. Pustovoitenko on the same day, Mr. Odling-Smee praised the Ukrainian government for its efforts to stabilize the country's financial and economic situation. He said he was satisfied by the monetary policies of the National Bank of Ukraine which, he said, have restored confidence in the hryvnia and brought the official currency exchange rate closer to the market rate. Mr. Odling-Smee, who said that he considers Ukraine's conversion of foreign-held T-bills a success, added that the confidence of foreign investors is gradually returning. The IMF official also said that Ukraine has made "significant progress in many directions of structural reforms." He noted that Ukraine has dealt with the crisis much better than Russia, but he also noted that a number of problems still exist in relations between the two countries, since payments from Russia have been virtually suspended. (Eastern Economist)

Hungary, Ukraine strengthen bilateral ties

BUDAPEST - Ukraine hopes that once Hungary is admitted into the European Union and NATO, it will be more effective in helping Ukraine's quest for Euro-Atlantic integration, visiting Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma told his Hungarian counterpart, Arpad Goncz, on October 27. At a joint news conference President Kuchma accused the EU of discriminating against his country by barring it from associate membership. Echoing recent Polish fears of a new divide across Europe, Mr. Kuchma said that Ukraine is Hungary's and Poland's close neighbor, and since these two countries will join the EU in the near future, they will have to protect themselves from the uncontrollable flow of goods and emigrants and to establish a strict visa regime with its neighbors. At present, Ukrainians do not need a visa to enter Poland and Hungary. A Ukrainian and Hungarian delegation agreed to create a working group, which would prepare proposals to the EU to simplify visa regulations. Ukrainian and Hungarian officials signed several documents dealing with issues such as confidence-building measures in the military sphere and developing the Hungarian-Ukrainian border region. (RFE/RL Newsline, Eastern Economist)

Ukraine attends Euro-Atlantic conference

KYIV - A delegation including the Verkhovna Rada's Foreign Affairs Committee Vice-Chairman Oleksander Puhkalo, National Deputy Dmytro Pavlychko, and Ukraine's ambassador to Poland participated on October 27 in the Euro-Atlantic Dialog conference on Parliamentary Projects organized by the Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry. Parliamentarians from more than 20 countries participated in the conference. The Euro-Atlantic conferences are designed to bolster the cooperative work and communication processes of existing structures such as NATO and the EU, said First Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs A. Ananich. He stressed that both organizations are open to new members. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine to liquidate strategic bombers

KYIV - Viktor Mykhtiuk, vice-minister of defense and commander of the 43rd army announced on October 27 that with the aid of the United States Ukraine will begin in 1999 to liquidate the TU-160 and TU-95MP strategic bombers. Ukraine has over 40 such units, Mr. Mykhtiuk added. He noted that it was agreed during his visit to the U.S. the previous week that most of the parts on these bombers could be saved and sold or used for other commercial purposes. The proceeds could be used for purchasing apartments for those pilots who are being transferred to the reserve. Also during their visit to the U.S., members of the delegation of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense familiarized themselves with various ways of destroying solid fuel missiles. Ukraine has such missiles near the town of Pervomaisk in Mykolaiv Oblast, but they are subject to elimination in accordance with Ukraine's international commitments. Mr. Mykhtiuk also said that the Ministry of Defense wants to have solid fuel melted out from missile engines prior to destruction of the missiles. The solid fuel could be melted out with the aid of liquefied nitrogen and used as industrial explosive. The vice-minister of defense added that 101 liquid fuel missiles and 130 missile launchers thus far have been eliminated in Ukraine. (Eastern Economist)

Kuchma stresses economic ties

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on October 29 said a clear-cut program on cooperation with Russia will be prepared soon, Interfax reported. Mr. Kuchma stressed that Ukraine is very dependent on Russia and "has a stake in Russia's stability." He criticized Moscow for not taking reciprocal steps to strengthen economic ties, underlining that Russia has not yet ratified the 1995 treaty on free trade with Ukraine. Mr. Kuchma repeated his proposal to create a free trade zone within the Commonwealth of Independent States, saying that the Customs Union (whose members are Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan) is "fictitious and does not work." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Poland sign cooperation pact

KYIV - Ukraine and Poland have signed a cooperation program that, with U.S. assistance, will help Ukraine use Poland's experience in implementing market reforms, Western agencies reported. Stephen Sestanovich, adviser to the U.S. secretary of state on the new independent states, said at the signing ceremony in Kyiv on October 29 that the program will focus on macroeconomic and local government reforms, with special emphasis on the development of small businesses. The U.S. Agency for International Development is to provide the bulk of the funding for the program, which includes training for local government officials. Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Serhii Tyhypko commented that Poland's thriving economy is proof that Ukraine must pursue radical reforms, despite domestic calls to reconsider its economic policies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv protests Russian claims on Sevastopol

KYIV - The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine has protested what it called "territorial claims on Ukraine" made by the Russian State Duma last month, Reuters reported on November 2. Georgii Tikhonov, head of the Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, had said during a debate on the Russian-Ukrainian treaty that "according to all domestic and international documents, Crimea's port of Sevastopol was never given to Ukraine." Other Duma deputies had supported that statement. "Ukraine decisively rejects any claims on the territorial unity of the state, in consideration of the fact that they do not contribute to creating an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding between Ukraine and the Russian Federation," the ministry said in its statement. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma to government: cut wage arrears

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on November 2 gave the government one week to draw up urgent measures to meet all current payments and cut wage arrears, ITAR-TASS reported. Meanwhile, some 500 coal miners from throughout Ukraine are expected in Kyiv on November 3 to picket the government building in order to protest unpaid wages. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine improves nuclear safety record

KYIV - Oleksander Smyshliayev, the chief of the Environmental Safety Ministry's nuclear regulatory agency, said that the number of malfunctions at Ukraine's nuclear power plants has been declining since the start of 1998, Interfax reported. But he acknowledged that malfunctions in the first half of 1998 were up 50 percent from the same period last year. Mr. Smyshliayev predicted that the number of problems at these plants will decline further by the end of the year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma lambastes Verkhovna Rada

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on October 29 criticized the Verkhovna Rada for its lack of cooperation with the executive, saying lawmakers take "months and years" to make economic decisions, while the current situation "calls for immediate intervention." Mr. Kuchma noted that "everybody wants a strong hand" at present and that he is "ready to take responsibility" for Ukraine. At the same time, he said he prefers the "European way" to "the Belarusian way, where all structures are puppet bodies and unanimously vote for all decisions." President Kuchma also proposed to abolish the immunity and privileges of national deputies and to put the issue to a referendum. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Shcherbak meets with Mexican leaders

KYIV - Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States and Mexico, said during a November 3 meeting with Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Rosario Green that the visit to Ukraine by Mexico's president scheduled for next spring should boost cooperation between the two countries. The invitation to visit Ukraine was made by Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasiuk and should coincide with the inaugural meetings of the intergovernmental science-technological and cultural-educational committees. Mr. Green said that Mexico wants to develop mutually profitable political and economic relationships with Ukraine. During his visit Ambassador Shcherbak also held negotiations with First Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Rebolyedo Houtom. Ukrainian exports to Mexico have increased sevenfold over the past year. (Eastern Economist)

President targets barter trade

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on October 21 issued a decree that will give special tax breaks to companies that reduce the percentage of output bartered for other goods rather than sold during the first half of 1999, Reuters reported. The Ukrainian State Statistical Committee said that during the first eight months of 1998 more than one-third of the country's industrial output was bartered rather than sold. The same day, accord to the Associated Press, Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Borys Supykhanov complained that the country's farmers are increasingly reluctant to supply approximately 3.5 million tons of grain that they had pledged earlier in 1998 in exchange for seeds and machinery. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Belarusians commemorate Stalin's victims

MIENSK - Some 2,000 people, including many opponents of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, marched on November 1 from downtown Miensk to the site of mass executions during Stalin's regime at Kurapaty, the Associated Press reported. The march took place on Commemoration of Ancestors Day, which officially is a national holiday in Belarus but has been deprived of its work-free status by the Lukashenka government. The Belarusian opposition says more than 200,000 people were killed at Kurapaty during Stalinist purges in 1937-1941. In a recent bid to downplay the scale of Stalinist repressions, Procurator General Aleh Bazhelka said no more than 7,000 people were buried in mass graves at Kurapaty, adding that there is no evidence they were Stalinist victims. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Crimea approves new Constitution

SYMFEROPOL - The Crimean Autonomous Republic's Parliament on October 21 approved a new Constitution that gives that region neither separate citizenship nor a separate legal system, Interfax reported. The Constitution - the fifth one to be proposed since 1992 - must now be approved by the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lukashenka again promotes Slavic union

OMSK, Russia - Speaking here on October 21, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said Ukraine would join the Belarusian-Russian Union "tomorrow" if the arrangement began to work efficiently, Interfax. He said that such a union of Slavic countries would "alter the geopolitical situation of the world." At the Russian Polyot defense plant, Mr. Lukashenka said the Belarusian defense industry remains among the most powerful in the former Soviet Union: "We did not make our defense industries manufacture saucers; instead, we kept their production lines alive." Meanwhile, Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Vladimir Grigoriev told ITAR-TASS that Miensk wants to help restart the production of Kvarts television sets at an Omsk plant. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Unsafe vehicles are commonplace

KYIV - Laboratory testing has shown that more than 7 percent of the vehicles on Ukraine's roads failed to meet domestic standards. Vehicles and trailers from the following companies failed to pass tests: MAZ, ZIL, GAZ, VAZ, KIA (Korea), Daewoo FSO, Daewoo Lublin (Poland), Mazda (Japan) and Chrysler (U.S.).(Eastern Economist)

Employment figures fall nationwide

KYIV - The Employment and Social Policy Ministry announced on October 19 that 1,640,400 people had registered at State Service of Unemployment Offices between January and September of this year. The official number of unemployed currently stands at 1,289,200, representing a 50 percent increase from 1997 figures. The official level of unemployment as of October 1 stood at 3.18 percent of the work force nationally. The Zhytomyr, Lviv, Volyn, Chernihiv and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts all have higher unemployment rates, between 5.14 and 6.18 percent. There are about 20 people available for every vacancy, with a figure of 14 people for every manual labor vacancy, rising to 33 for service vacancy, and 45 for those who do not have training or qualifications. Again, these national figures are lower than in many of the more depressed oblasts. The Lviv region has 61 people for every vacancy, Volyn, 69, Zakarpattia, 81, and Ivano-Frankivsk, a staggering 148. The number of the citizens calling upon the services of the Social Protection Service has increased by 50 percent, compared to last year's third quarter figures. However, there was positive news from the review also, as the number of people who found work has increased by 35.1 percent among those who participated in state projects and by 97.3 percent among those who participated in special training programs. (Eastern Economist)

UES comments on state verdict

KYIV - United Energy Systems (UES) issued a statement on October 19 reacting to the decision of the High Court of Arbitration on the validity of a fine against UES corporation of 1.4 million hrv set by Dnipropetrovsk Tax Administration. The UES said this is an obvious sign of political persecution against entrepreneurs in Ukraine. "This unreasonable and unjustifiable fine against the corporation is a direct result of recent moves to bring about the dismissal of Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko's Cabinet, initiated by former UES President Yulia Tymoshenko," they argued. (Eastern Economist)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 8, 1998, No. 45, Vol. LXVI

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