The VII International Conference "UkrCemFor 2017. Cement industry. Best Practices. Development prospects" with a focus on highlighting the important aspects of cement industry took place on May 23-25, 2017 in Radisson Blu Hotel in Kyiv. Forum Organizer – The Ukrcement Association of Cement Producers of Ukraine, Co-organizer – A7 CONFERENCES. Partner – NIKO Trading. Partners -– CRH Group, Ivano-Frankivsk Cement, Dyckerhoff Ukraine, Heidelbergcement Ukraine, JSC Eurocement Ukraine, Aggreko, Altkom, PLITOS, Inlab Architects, EKTA, Altis Hodling, NORDIMPIANTI, Official Carrier – Turkish Airlines.

"UkrCemFor 2017" for the 7th time became a communication platform and brought together key players of the Ukrainian and European cement industry leaders. The event focused on the important aspects – growth of Ukrainian cement market, quality of products and the use of advanced production technology of cement and building materials.

Volodymyr Omelyan, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine said: "We have been talking about cement roads for a long time. And my dream, as a minister, is that the East and South regions of Ukraine have a concrete covering of motorways. Plans of 2015-2016 were destroyed by our reality, when 95% of the roads were no longer usable. We must now repair and restore them to the previous state. At the same time, looking ahead, we understand that there is no alternative to concrete roads. Among the roads, which we are already planning to build in concrete, will be the roads of Dnepropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Zakarpattia regions. It will be, at least, the southern part of the road, which will connect Gdansk and Odesa."

Pavlo Kachur, Head, Association of Cement Manufacturers of Ukraine, "Ukrcement" noted: "The high-quality product is not just a guarantee that the buyer will get the product for which he paid. First and foremost, it is the safety of his life. Because if cement is defective, the design of the building may collapse and lead to tragedy. As a result of common actions of the manufacturer, the seller and the public organization we want to benefit the ordinary consumer. We want them not to be cheated on the scales, on product quality or fake label."

Miguel Machado, Development Director Ukraine, CRH Ukraine noted: "The advantage of fighting the counterfeit is the creation of a cement image as a reliable product. It is also possible to track the product and track the quality from the manufacturer to the end user, and this creates conditions for fair competition, without external factors affecting the quality, and the product is developing according to the needs of the end user. And, finally, the share of cement with a guarantee of quality increases, and the state takes a step towards increasing the transparency of the economy. In turn, the construction industry and the economy as a whole are becoming more stable".

Roman Skilsky, Executive Director, Ukrcement Association said: "We often face with a poor quality of cement, which is being sold to Ukrainians. There are manipulations on the chemical composition, when a lower-quality commodity is sold at higher price, or on low-grade goods. But it is worth to note that Ukraine produces high-quality cement, and the infrastructure of cement production is available throughout the country. We can provide ourselves with cement completely, even with a significant increase in demand for it."

Among the other speakers of the Forum: Volodymyr Shulmeyster, First Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine (2014-2016); Director of the area "Infrastructure of the Future", Ukrainian Institute for the Future; Petro Mykhaylyshyn, Chief Executive Officer, Epicentr K; Elena Borisova, Manager of Energy Efficiency Programs and Climate Change, EBRD; Georgiy Geletukha, Chairman of the Board, Bioenergy Association of Ukraine; Dr. Martin Schneider, Chief Executive, Verein Deutscher Zementwerke e.V. (VDZ); Vitaliy Vlasenko, Team-lead of the project on illustrative specifications at ProZorro, Advisor to the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine; Oleg Tsilvik, Deputy Chairman of the Board, Union consumer Ukraine; Olexander Rotov, Chairman of the Board, Confederation of Builders of Ukraine; Ljudmyla Kripka, Head of Department of Scientific, Technical and Legal Information, Ukrcement Association; Eugene Poluleh, Executive Director, JSC "HeidelbergCement Ukraine"; Valery Virozhemskiy, First Deputy Director for Science, SE DerzhdorNDI; Oleg Ostroverkhiy, Ph.D., Expert Association "Ukrcement"; Helmut Leitgeb, Regional manager, Deltabloc International GmbH; Olena Shuk, Construction Sector Head, Better Regulation Office Delivery; Andriy Shklyar, Head of the Expert Department, Center for Transport Strategies; Igor Gameliak, Doctor of Technical Sciences, National Transport University; Eamon Geraghty, Technical Director, CRH Group Services; Dr. Natalya Parasyuk, Project Manager PMR, The World Bank; Julija Glöckler, Project Manager, Cement Chemistry, VDZ; Sergey Rubalsky, Director General, Global Certific; Sergiy Tolmachev, Professor, KhNADU; Sergii Koretskyi, CEO, LLC "Institute UKRDORPOEKT"; Valeriy Savenko, CEO, NIKO TRADING; Anders Skaerlund Petersen, Project Director, PMP certified, Flsmidth; Dimitri Braizew, Area Manager, AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH; Lina Dürak, Deputy head of representation in Uzbekistan, DAL Teknik Makina Ticaret ve A.Ş.; Stanislav Babych, Director, Sigma Engineering; Olena Omelchenko, Head of International Trade Practice, Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm; Yulia Andrusiv, General Manager, Aggreko Ukraine, Belarus & the Baltics; Myroslav Sanytsky, Professor, Lviv Polytechnic National University; Yuriy Kaygorodcew, Director, PLITOS, Inlab Architects; Andrii Shklyar, Head of the Expert Division, the Center for Transport Strategies; Viktor Andrusiv, Executive Director, Ukrainian Institute for the Future and others.

Among participating companies: Verein Deutscher Zementwerke e.V., IBAU HAMBURG Ingenieurgesellschaft Industriebau mbH, VGH AG, RHI AG, AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH, The World Bank, EBRD, Deltabloc International GmbH as well as delegations of many equipment producers and research institutes of cement industry.

General TV Partners – News One, General news partner – Interfax-Ukraine, Exclusive business media partner – Business Newspaper, Exclusive media partner – LigaBusinessInform. Media partners: Swiss Travel Magazine, CEO Club, Global Cement Magazine, International Cement Review, Group of editions “Kapstroitelstvo”, Ukrainian Building Community (UBC), Build journal, Delovõje Vedomosti, Build Portal, ProfBuild, Global Ukraine, Industry in focus, Cement and its application magazine, Kyiv Post, URE Club, UBJ, Property Times, Publishing House “Ukraine Business”. Supported by Ukrainian American Coordinating Council, TUID, Arab Union for Cement and Building Materials and others.

The materials and video of from the conference are available on the website: a7conf.com/ukrcemfor17/en