person:aivaras abromavicius

Groysman and new ministers take charge of government
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/groysman-and-new-ministers-take-charge-of-government-412052.html

Ukraine’s parliament voted on April 14 to appoint Volodymyr Groysman as the country’s new prime minister, with 257 lawmakers – 31 votes more than needed – supporting his candidacy.

But the new coalition that was formed to back Groysman and his new government proved unstable even on its first day, immediately raising questions about how long it can last.

Twenty-one lawmakers from factions in the new coalition didn’t support Groysman for prime minister. Ten of them were absent, but 11 lawmakers deliberately didn’t vote.

Groysman’s appointment was passed, though, thanks to the support of 11 independent lawmakers, all 23 lawmakers of the Vidrodzhennya (Renaissance) faction, a group that is associated with oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, and 16 lawmakers from the Volya Narodu (People’s Will) faction.

But just hours later, it took the parliament three attempts to scrape together enough votes to pass the program of Groysman’s Cabinet.
[…]
Meet the Cabinet
Groysman’s Cabinet was appointed with 239 votes in favor.

Several ministers from Yatsenyuk’s Cabinet kept their jobs, including Deputy Prime Minister Hennadiy Zubko, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, and Minister of Sports and Youth Ihor Zhdanov. Ex-Social Policy Minister Pavlo Petrenko was promoted to deputy prime minister.

The position of health minister remains vacant, as the coalition is yet to agree on a candidate.

Former head of National Bank of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv was appointed economy minister. Deputy Head of President’s Administration Oleksandr Danyuliuk, who previously worked in the Yanukovych administration, is the new minister of finance. He replaced Ukrainian-American Jaresko.

As Groysman made his address as the new prime minister, his promises of hard work were barely audible above opposition chants of “Shame!” Opposition lawmakers were still outraged by the all-in-one vote that gave Groysman the premiership.

“I’m going to show you what it means to govern a country,” Groysman said at the end of his speech, looking irritated by the shouting.

#Ukraine

#Fact-checking #Saakashvili: Claims true – up to a point
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/fact-checking-saakashvili-claims-true-up-to-a-point-397654.html

Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili on Sept. 3 lashed out at Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the government he leads in an interview with Channel 5, owned by President Petro Poroshenko.

The former Georgian president accused the Cabinet of Ministers and Yatsenyuk personally of sabotaging reforms and lobbying for oligarchs’ interests.

In three more specific claims, Saakashvili accused the Cabinet of protecting the head of the State Aviation Service, whom he said had taken decisions in favor of billionaire Igor Kolomoisky’s Ukraine International Airlines. He then accused the government of blocking Economic Development and Trade Minister Aivaras Abromavicius’ attempts to dismiss the heads of two state enterprises. And last, he alleged the Cabinet had foiled his plans to reform Odesa’s notoriously corrupt customs service.

Yatsenyuk countered on Sept. 4 that Saakashvili’s accusations were unfounded and claimed that the Cabinet had approved the governor’s requests.

“We are all in one team here. I understand his emotions because he bears all the responsibility for Odesa Oblast,” Yatsenyuk said. “But it is inappropriate for an ex-president to bring unfounded charges against the government.”

The Kyiv Post decided to dig deeper into four of Saakashvili’s claims, and see if there was any substance to them.

Claim 1: The Yatsenyuk Cabinet has protected the head of the State Aviation Service.
[…]
The Verdict: True

Claim 2: The Cabinet is blocking attempts to dismiss the heads of some state enterprises.
[…]
The Verdict: True – technically. But while the head of at least one enterprise is indeed still in his job, the Kyiv Post couldn’t find proof that the reason was because of cronyism among Yatsenyuk’s political allies.

Claim 3: The Yatsenyuk Cabinet is foiling Saakashvili’s plans to reform Odesa’s customs service.
[…]
The Verdict: Somewhat true. While not sabotaging the plan per se, the Cabinet appears to be meddling by moving the goalposts, making it more difficult for the reform to achieve its aims.

Claim 4: Yatsenyuk is in the thrall of the nation’s biggest oligarchs.
[…]
The Verdict: Not proven. Direct ties between Ukraine’s oligarchs and politicians are hard to pin down.

Greek Crisis ‘Diverts Attention’ from Kyiv
▻http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/greek-crisis-diverting-attention-from-ukraine

The Greek financial crisis has diverted global attention away from Ukraine, but it also “sheds a positive light” on the Kyiv government’s achievements, Ukrainian Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius said in a July 14 interview.

“Greece is rejecting reforms, and we are embracing reforms,” said Abromavicius, who visited Washington for the first-ever US-Ukraine investment summit held a day earlier.

He appealed for more financial assistance for Ukraine on the grounds that it has undertaken some reforms sought by international financial institutions. The United States and the European Union have together pledged the equivalent of €7.5 billion for Ukraine this year.

However, Abromavicius and others worry that recent legislation passed by Ukraine’s parliament could effectively water down his government’s reform efforts.

The worst law, he said, is one that restructures foreign currency loans. This will lead to about $5 billion in losses to Ukraine’s banking sector, he predicted.

Abromavicius noted that such bills are symptomatic of the populist measures promoted by some politicians with an eye on this October’s local elections.

“The closer we get to the local elections, the higher is going to be the probability of more of those types of situations,” he predicted.

Experts suggest ways to boost Ukraine-China trade
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/experts-suggest-ways-to-boost-ukraine-china-trade-382019.html

Ukraine’s stalling economy desperately needs investors. There are a lot of them in China, home to the world’s second largest economy.

But Ukraine is not doing enough to woo China.

That was one of the messages of the Kyiv Post-organized “Doing Business With China Conference."
(…)
Moreover, Ukraine needs fewer regulations on business as the only thing they do is promote corruption [, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius said].
(…)
Ihor Didenko, Ukraine’s deputy energy minister, pointed to Ukraine’s cooperation with China in the energy sector. The China Development Bank and Ukraine’s Naftogaz signed a $3.6 billion credit line contract which will include financing the Ukraine-Poland gas interconnector and various coal projects.

“Right now we are talking with our Chinese partners about the next direction, the switching from natural gas to coal," said Didenko.

In addition to Ukraine’s energy sector, Abromavicius hopes to see more Chinese investments in the country’s metals, mining, agriculture and IT sectors.

Government keeps railway monopoly on balance sheet amid industry’s downturn
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/government-keeps-railway-monopoly-on-its-balance-sheet-amid-industrys-down

Despite the Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius’s willingness to privatize as many state-controlled assets as possible, government-run railway monopolist Ukrzaliznytsia won’t be sold to a private investor any time soon, according to its interim head Maksym Blank.

Avant de trouver des investisseurs, il faut déjà commencer par trouver un PDG pour remplacer l’actuel intérimaire, pas candidat — mais alors, pas du tout candidat ! — à sa titularisation…

Blank, 41-year-old former investment banker, became interim head of the company, though he refused to apply for a position of a full-time CEO. Work at Ukrzaliznytsia “brought me nothing but troubles so far – rummage, criminal case where I’m a witness,” he said during the Jan. 22 news conference in Kyiv.

“To participate in an open competition [for the CEO position] you have to be liked. You have to be liked by the industry, by the members of parliament, by the city mayors and governors, by the industrial lobby, by the members of Cabinet of ministers,” he wrote in a Jun. 17 Facebook post. “And to present a program that everyone would like. But the program that I’m implementing in fact – it doesn’t contain any points that (people) like.”

Roman Bondar, a head hunter involved in finding the best candidate, says #Ukrzaliznytsia needs Steve Jobs in order to be managed effectively.

Pas certain que Steve Jobs soit intéressé par le poste…
Et pour un étranger, le plus dur sera sans doute d’avoir à retenir le nom de l’entreprise à laquelle il postule :-D

New economy minister stands for austerity, deregulation, privatization
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/new-economy-minister-stands-for-austerity-deregulation-privatization-37519

Ça va ch…r !

Ukraine’s newly appointed Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, 38, clearly signaled his conservative direction during a Dec. 13 interview with the Kyiv Post. “The role of the state in the economy should be decreased,” Abromavicius said.
(…)
Moreover, the nation’s public expenditures are 56 percent of GDP. He says the new government wants to cut the state’s share of spending 10 percentage points.

A good start would be the state-owned Naftogaz, which sucks up 7 to 9 percent of the nation’s GDP — much of it on non-transparent schemes that epitomize Ukraine’s corrupt ways.
(…)
Meanwhile, he hopes to stimulate private pension funds, a rather novel concept for Ukrainians, to supplement the nation’s simultaneously burdensome (17 percent of GDP) and paltry state pension for retirees (average payment of only $110 monthly). The private savings will create a long-term investment base that will be contributing to the development of business.
(…)
“We need the trade representative offices,” Abromavicius explains. “China has 5,000 people in Moscow working only on trade promotion. All these big embassies of the Netherlands or Germany - all they do is trade promotion. And, certainly, you shouldn’t have a 65-year-old guy promoting IT goods.”

Supprimer les subventions au gaz, compléter les retraites par des fonds de pension (montant total capitalisé à ce jour : 0 )

Ah, au fait, j’imagine qu’en Lituanie aussi, les vieux c…s (de 65 ans), et ben avant, c’étaient des jeunes c…s.