Ukrainian President Urged to Settle Ilyichevsk Port Dispute

zoom Ukrainian privately-owned terminal operator Container Terminal Ilyichevsk (CTI) has called on the countrys President Petro Poroshenko to step in and settle the dispute between CTI and the state-owned enterprise Ilyichevsk Commercial Seaport. CTI is appealing the court decision initiated by the Black Sea port to terminate a joint venture agreement concluded by the parties in 2005. The violation of state guarantees for investments in CTI’s case can lead to extremely negative consequences for Ukraine, the loss of confidence of foreign investors – private beneficiaries of CTI: US investment fund Siguler Guff & Company and German SRR Deutschland and further reduction of foreign investment in Ukraine, said CTI’s CEO Andriy Pavlyutin, co-author of the open letter. Creating a negative precedent for attracting new investments would adversely affect the feasibility of State Seaports Development Strategy in Ukraine. CTI says that since the signing of the joint-venture agreement between the port and CTI in 2005, over USD 56 million has been invested into large scale reconstruction of the container terminal.