The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will open a dialogue with Ukraine on its accession following a request from Kyiv, OECD Secretary General Matthias Kormann said in a statement on Wednesday.
“After a request received from Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to start the process of Ukraine’s accession to the OECD, the OECD Council decided to recognize Ukraine as a potential member of the organization,” it says.
Norman noted that after the completion of initial consultations on this issue, the OECD Council will consider opening discussions on accession and preparing a draft roadmap.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is on a visit to Ghana as part of a tour of African countries, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said.
“We continue to open Ukraine to Africa. The next stop on the minister’s tour is Ghana,” Kuleba wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister held successful talks in Côte d’Ivoire.
“The Minister was received by Temoko’s Vice President Maylie Kone, met with Foreign Minister Candia Camara and opened a business forum with the participation of more than twenty Ukrainian and Ivorian companies. Côte d’Ivoire announced its decision to join the Crimean Platform. Abidjan stands in solidarity with Ukraine on against the backdrop of Russian aggression,” Nikolenko said.
According to him, Ukraine and Côte d’Ivoire agreed to intensify cooperation in the field of security, digitalization, education and agriculture.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has improved its forecast for world trade growth for 2022 to 3.5% from 3% expected in April, but significantly lowered the forecast for 2023 – to 1% from 3.4%.
“Global trade growth momentum will slow in the second half of 2022 and remain weak in 2023 due to multiple shocks in the global economy,” the organization said in a report released on Wednesday.
Import demand is expected to decline as the world’s major economies slow down for a variety of reasons.
“In Europe, high energy prices caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will lead to a fall in consumer spending and higher costs for producers. In the US, monetary tightening will hit interest-sensitive sectors,” the report says. “China has to deal with outbreaks COVID-19, a decline in production, as well as weakness in external demand.”
Rising spending on fuel, food and fertilizer imports could lead to food shortages and debt problems in developing countries, the WTO warns.
“The global economy is facing a complex crisis,” said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “The picture for 2023 has become much bleaker.”
The organization also cut its global economic growth forecast for 2023 to 2.3% from 3.3%. In 2022, according to WTO estimates, the global economy will grow by 2.8%.
The report notes that the forecasts are accompanied by a high degree of uncertainty associated with the changing policies of the central banks of developed countries, as well as the unpredictable nature of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The French chain of sports stores Decathlon has resumed its online store and is preparing to open stores in Kyiv.
As the Interfax-Ukraine agency was informed by the company, on October 7 all stores of the network in the capital of Ukraine will be opened: Decathlon Belichi, Decathlon Pochaina and Decathlon Prospekt.
The site is already accepting orders, since September 30, delivery is carried out by “Nova Poshta”.
Decathlon is known as the world’s leading sports retailer, specializing in the design, manufacture and retail of sports goods for over 70 sports.
The first Decathlon store in Ukraine was opened in March 2019 in Kyiv. There are three stores in the capital, as well as one in Odessa. The store in Odessa is located in the Riviera shopping and entertainment center, which suffered from the impact, and will not resume its work in the south in any other location until it is restored.
Almost 20% of Ukrainians have close relatives with whom they have lost contact as a result of the Russian invasion and do not know where they are. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted within the framework of the project of the Public Organization “Center for Assistance to the Volunteer Movement “Volunteer.Org”: “Assessment of the damage caused by war crimes of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.”
“Almost 20% reported that they have among their close relatives those with whom they have lost contact and do not know where they are now. Russia or the occupied territories of the east or Crimea. 7% of respondents noted that personally or their close relatives were injured, maimed due to hostilities,” the results of the survey, presented on Wednesday at the Interfax-Ukraine press center, say.
Every tenth respondent indicated that his housing was either completely destroyed (2% of respondents) or damaged (8% of respondents). Another 5% said they did not know the state of their housing now. For 85% of respondents, the housing situation has not changed.
“About a third of those whose house is located in the de-occupied territory or the territory of hostilities noted that their housing was damaged. Also, one in five of those who still have housing in the zone of occupation do not know what condition it is in,” the results say. .
It is also noted that 95% of those surveyed have not contacted law enforcement agencies in the past six months on issues related to the full-scale Russian invasion.
At the same time, special courts with the participation of national and foreign judges (63%) and international institutions (23%) are considered the most effective mechanism for bringing Russia to justice for war crimes.
“A third of the respondents are ready to personally participate in lawsuits in order to demand compensation for lost property / health in courts and international courts,” analysts point out.
According to Oleksandr Kopyl, co-founder of the consulting company K&K Group, head of the Nuremberg-2022 volunteer initiative, which has been collecting and cataloging the crimes of the Russian army against the Ukrainian population since the first day of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, more than three thousand facts have been published by the Nuremberg-2022 initiative alone. war crimes.
“In addition to informing the public, all the facts are sent for further work to the relevant law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, as well as to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. We are sure that thanks to the cooperation of public initiatives and state authorities, war crimes will be investigated, and all war criminals will be fairly punished,” Kopyl noted.
The survey and the report were prepared within the framework of the project “Urgent EU support for civil society”, implemented by the Initiative Center for the Promotion of the Activity and Development of the Public Initiative “Unification” with the financial support of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of the Public Organization “Volunteer.Org Volunteering Assistance Center” and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union. Expert support and advice during the study was provided by representatives of the Coalition “Ukraine. Five in the morning.”
The survey was conducted among the population of Ukraine aged 18 years and older in all regions, except for the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbass, as well as territories where at the time of the survey there was no Ukrainian mobile communication. The survey period is from 15 to 19 September 2022.
Results are weighted using up-to-date data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, and type of settlement. Sample population: 2000 respondents. Survey method: CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews – telephone interviews using a computer). The error of the representativeness of the study with a confidence probability of 0.95: no more than 2.2%.
We remind you that in April a team of journalists and media workers put forward an initiative to create a project to search for missing people “Find your loved ones”.
We ask citizens whose relatives do not get in touch to send us all the information they have. We recommend using the following form:
1. Full name of the missing person;
2. Your contact details;
3. Photo of the missing person, description of special signs;
4. Approximate place of the last stay of the missing person.
The project is non-commercial, all your appeals will be edited and published free of charge in the media.
The project coordinator is Maxim Urakin, deputy head of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency and publisher of the Open4Business project.
Please send information about the missing to e-mail maksim.urakin@gmail.com
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allowed exporters to carry out fumigation or disinfection of grain cargo outside Ukraine from Ukrainian legal entities accredited by the State Food and Consumer Service or from foreign companies.
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on Wednesday, the resolution adopted by the government will help unblock the passage of sea vessels with agricultural products under the Istanbul grain agreements.
The document instructs the National Bank of Ukraine to ensure the transfer of funds to pay for grain cargo exporting companies for services related to fumigation and disinfection of grain outside Ukraine, and also regulates the remuneration of the commission agent for these operations.
The procedure for fumigation and disinfection of grain cargo outside Ukraine is published on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
