An investment project to be implemented at Yuzhny port is estimated at $100 million / Photo from uk.wikipedia.org
Ukraine and the United States have signed an investment agreement worth a total of about $100 million to build a grain terminal at the port of Yuzhny in Odesa region.
One of the parties to the agreement is U.S. company Cargill, one of the world's largest private companies investing in food production.
The official signing ceremony took place at Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers in the presence of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Wednesday, February 24.
"I would like to congratulate the Ukrainian and U.S. companies on the fact that $100-million investment has become reality. This is evidence of a real partnership between Ukraine and the United States," Yatsenyuk said while commenting on the signing of the agreement.
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said in turn that the signing of the agreement was a demonstration of trust and confidence in the actions of the Ukrainian government, which is going along the path of reforms. According to him, the construction of the grain terminal was among those initiatives that were discussed at the U.S.-Ukraine Business Forum with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
"Investments like the one signed today for port project at Yuzhniy with Cargill can help unlock Ukraine's full agricultural potential," Pyatt tweeted to comment on the deal.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the project for the construction of the grain terminal is one of the steps to expand Ukrainian port infrastructure aimed at boosting the country's export opportunities in the agrarian sector.
The memorandum of intention to build the grain terminal at the port of Yuzhny was signed in August 2015.
It was signed by Cargill General Manager Martin Schuldt, Chairman of state enterprise "Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority" Andriy Amelin and Director of MB Cargo stevedoring company Oleksandr Prymak.