Ukraine has registered 5,181 new cases of COVID-19, 11,310 recoveries, and 128 deaths in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said.
“Ukraine recorded 5,181 new COVID-19 cases on January 29, 2021. In particular, the virus was contracted by 218 children and 212 medical workers. Over the past day, 1,916 persons have been hospitalized, 128 have died, and 11,310 have recovered,” Stepanov said on Facebook.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,211,593 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Ukraine; 22,479 of them have died and 1,003,341 have recovered to date.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that Ukraine is currently signing or has already signed contracts for more than 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
“There will be enough vaccines for everyone this year. Today, we have contracts for more than 30 million vaccines that have actually been signed and are being signed,” Shmyhal said on the air of ICTV channel on Monday evening, January 25.
The prime minister also said that all the queues according to the national vaccination plan will be observed, and the vaccination itself will start in February.
“In the near future, Ukraine will receive one million doses of vaccine. Until the end of January, we expect the amount of COVAX vaccine […] there will be the first delivery of COVAX vaccine in the amount of 200,000 doses or more, in order to start emergency immediate vaccination,” Shmyhal said.
Pivdenny Commercial Sea Port (formerly Yuzhny, Odesa region), the largest seaport of Ukraine in terms of transshipment volume, increased cargo handling by 14.49% in 2020 compared to, to 61.665 million tonnes.
According to the information on the website of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, in 2020, the port increased handling of export cargo by 20.17%, to 47.63 million tonnes, reduced handling of import cargo by 0.67%, to 7.212 million tonnes and transit cargo by 6.66%, to 6.477 million tonnes. Coastal cargo was handled 12.5 times more than in the previous year, 346,620 tonnes.
In terms of cargo nomenclature, in 2020, the seaport increased handling of liquid cargo by 23.9%, to 5.32 million tonnes, dry bulk cargo by 13.96%, to 51.743 million tonnes, and packaged goods by 10.53%, to 4.602 million tonnes.
Handling of containers for the specified period amounted to 243,790 TEU (more by 11.49%).
Pivdenny seaport was founded in 1978. It is located on the banks of the Adzhalyk estuary and is the deepest in Ukraine. The total length of the berths is about 2.6 km.
Ukraine ranked second in the ranking of world grain exporters in terms of total exports in the past 2019/2020 agricultural year, including the second in barley supplies, fourth in maize supplies, and fifth for wheat, Deputy Minister of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka has said, referring to the data announced at the 52nd session of the International Grains Council.
“According to the results of the 2019/2020 agri-year, in aggregate in terms of the volume of exports of all grain crops, Ukraine became second, leaving behind only the United States,” Kachka said, commenting on the results of the session, in a press release from the Economy Ministry on Monday.
According to him, Ukraine has the potential to further increase the production and export of grain.
According to the estimates of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which data were used to compile the rating, in the previous agri-year Ukraine exported 21.01 million tonnes of wheat with a harvest of 29.17 million tonnes, 28.93 million tonnes of corn with a harvest of 35.89 million tonnes, and in general, grain exports amounted to 55.09 million tonnes with a harvest of 75.72 million tonnes.
In the current agri-year (2020/2021), the USDA forecasts the export of grain from Ukraine 45.81 million tonnes with a harvest of 64.21 million tonnes, including 24 million tonnes of corn with a harvest of 29.5 million tonnes and 17.5 million tonnes of wheat with a harvest of 25.5 million tonnes.
The State Agency for Infrastructure Projects (Ukrinfraproekt) and the Norwegian company Q-Free ASA have discussed the prospects for cooperation in 2021 regarding the installation of Weigh-in-Motion (WiM) complexes.
“Today we’ve met with representatives of the Norwegian company Q-Free ASA, who are interested in the development of a project for Weigh-in-Motion complexes in Ukraine. We discussed the prospects for cooperation in 2021 on the establishment of such complexes,” Head of Ukrinfraproekt Kyrylo Khomiakov said on Facebook.
At the same time, he noted that in 2020 Ukrinfraproekt installed 20 WiM complexes, in 2021 it is planned to install 28 such complexes.
Q-Free ASA (Trondheim) is a Norwegian company founded in 1984. It has offices in 16 countries of the world, the number of employees is about 380. Since 2002, it has been listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker QFR.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland discussed the expansion of the free trade agreement (FTA) and the liberalization of the visa regime.
“An important basis for the development of economic cooperation between Ukraine and Canada is the Free Trade Agreement, and currently, both parties face the ambitious task of expanding their impact on investment and services,” the government’s press service said.
Shmyhal stressed the importance of supporting free trade area in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We believe that Canada’s policy of open international trade and export support, which is also pursued by Canada, is one of the measures to effectively counter the spread of the pandemic. I am convinced that these are the first steps on the path of work on the updated Free Trade Agreement,” the head of government said.
He expressed confidence that despite the difficult situation amid the fight against the pandemic, Ukraine and Canada will continue to actively develop bilateral cooperation.
“Trade and economic cooperation remain a priority of our cooperation. Each new challenge opens up new prospects for development, so we must consolidate our efforts to overcome the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic as soon as possible and continue to increase bilateral trade,” the prime minister said.
In turn, Freeland said that Canada is interested in expanding the Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine and is ready to work in this direction.
According to Shmyhal, Ukraine is completing the formation of its delegation for the relevant talks. The parties agreed that it is necessary to organize the work of an intergovernmental working group in the near future, which will draft a document.
In addition, the prime minister noted Ukraine’s high interest in visa liberalization and the readiness to host a group of Canadian experts in Ukraine to monitor the state of Ukraine’s compliance with Canada’s criteria.
Shmyhal told the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada about the “Crimean Platform” and invited Canada to join its activities.
In addition, the prime minister invited Freeland to Ukraine to celebrate the 30th anniversary of independence.
