US President Joe Biden on Thursday, September 14, announced the appointment of Penny Pritzker as US special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement.
It is noted that in this position, Pritzker will work with the Ukrainian government, the G7, the EU, international financial institutions, international partners and the U.S. private sector “to help shape Ukraine’s future as a prosperous, secure, European democracy.”
The Special Representative will lead efforts to shape donor priorities through the Interagency Donor Coordination Platform to align them with Ukraine’s needs and encourage international partners to increase their support for Ukraine. She will also work closely with the Ukrainian government, which is stepping up reforms needed to open export markets, attract foreign direct investment, and accelerate economic recovery.
The State Department emphasized that Pritzker has extensive experience in the private sector, serving as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and personal ties to Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora.
“Her family hails from the village of Velykye Pritzky near Kiev, where she owned a granary more than 100 years ago before emigrating to the United States. Ms. Pritzker is a deeply committed leader who is trusted across the political spectrum for her proven track record of achieving positive results,” the statement said.
Blinken said the appointment of the Special Representative demonstrates the U.S. commitment to strengthening Ukraine’s European future and is in line with the new economic and security commitments announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London and Vilnius.
“I welcome Special Representative Pritzker to this position and express my deep appreciation for her resumption of public service,” the Secretary of State concluded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting with Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong and representatives of Korean business.
During the meeting, the head of state conveyed his gratitude to the government of the Republic of Korea for the decision to provide Ukraine with financial support in the amount of 2.3 billion dollars for post-war reconstruction.
“I think this will give a boost to the development of Ukrainian infrastructure,” Zelensky said and added that it is important for Ukraine that representatives of Korean business actively work on the Ukrainian market and participate in the implementation of projects in the development of nuclear and renewable energy, machine building, automotive industry, lithium mining, oil refining, “green” metallurgy, railway transport, and others.
“It is important that they (Korean businesses – IF-U) feel my personal support. We are interested in you entering more deeply into the Ukrainian economy,” he said.
As the president emphasised, such cooperation will allow Ukraine to provide new jobs and new economic growth both for itself and for the Republic of Korea.
Zelensky also expressed gratitude to the Korean side for supporting the initiatives of the First Lady of Ukraine when she was on a visit to the Republic of Korea.
For his part, Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong stressed that Korea stands for peace and defence of Ukrainian sovereignty, as well as for countering Russia’s illegal invasion.
He also noted that the visit of representatives of the Korean government and business to Kiev was a direct demonstration of support for Ukraine.
In addition, the minister expressed his belief that bilateral cooperation could be expanded in various areas of common interests.
According to the press service of the Ukrainian president, the parties signed an agreement between the governments on loans from the Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF). The agreement provides for the possibility of granting favourable loans for the implementation of projects in Ukraine with the participation of Korean companies. The document was signed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Economics Minister Yuliya Sviridenko on the Ukrainian side and Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ukraine Kim Hyong-Tae on the Korean side.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of Ukraine after a decrease in the first quarter of 2023 by 10.5% against the first quarter of 2022 in the second and third quarters switched to growth, is indicated in the explanatory note to the government’s draft state budget for 2024.
“According to estimates of the Ministry of Economy, at the end of eight months, growth is 3%,” the document says.
According to it, “certain types of economic activities” managed to quickly adapt to the consequences of the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP.
“Better than expected results of economic activity are due to the rapid adaptation of enterprises to the new conditions of activity together with the recovery of domestic demand, which was the traditional driver of growth of the Ukrainian economy in previous years,” – noted in the explanatory note.
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko announced last week that the forecast for GDP growth in 2023 had been raised to 4%, but the explanatory note still says that the economy will grow by 2.8% this year with inflation at 14.7%, although it fell to 8.6% in August.
According to the explanatory note, the Ministry of Economy as of mid-June this year predicted GDP growth next year by 5% with inflation falling to 10.8% at the end of the year.
The National Bank of Ukraine in late July raised its forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2023 from 2% to 2.9%, but lowered it for 2024 from 4.3% to 3.5%. In addition, the NBU improved its inflation estimate this year from 14.8% to 10.6%, and next year – to 8.5%.
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The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at a meeting on Friday amended the Regulation on the procedure for issuing driver’s licenses and admission of citizens to driving vehicles and the Procedure for state registration and deregistration of vehicles, said the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk.
“Introduced the practical examination for the right to drive vehicles of categories A1, A and B1 exclusively on sites for training in initial driving, and category B – exclusively in traffic conditions on routes determined by the territorial service center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs”, – wrote Melnychuk in the Telegram channel.
In addition, the functionality of the driver’s electronic account and the Diya Portal was expanded regarding the possibility of ordering electronically services for state registration and deregistration of vehicles, issuing a temporary registration card in connection with the granting of the right to drive a vehicle to another individual or a vehicle registration certificate funds in the name of another individual traveling abroad, as well as for extending the period of responsible storage of license plates of re-registered or deregistered vehicles for further assignment to other vehicles of the owner, issuing a conclusion on the possibility of applying special individual identification numbers or duplicating the primary ones identification numbers of vehicles, as well as the exchange of a driver’s license produced on a form for a driver’s license in electronic form and vice versa.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal said that the Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft state budget for 2024 with own general fund revenues of UAH 1 trillion 560 billion and general fund expenditures of UAH 3 trillion 108 billion.
“The key focus of this project is the defense and security of our country. We are directing more than half of all budget resources – 1 trillion 685 billion UAH. This amount is 113 billion UAH more than this year. There will be even more weapons and equipment. More drones, ammunition, missiles. Just like this year, every penny of taxes of citizens and businesses will go to ensure our security and defense forces,” wrote Shmygal in his Telegram channel.
According to the Prime Minister, the second priority is the social sphere, budget expenditures for which will amount to 469 billion UAH, which is 25 billion UAH more than this year.
“The third priority is medicine and education. For the education sector we allocate 179 billion UAH, and this is 23 billion more than in the current year. For medicine – 202 billion UAH, which is 24 billion more than the expenditures of 2023,” he said.
Shmygal noted that the fourth priority is the support of veterans, and we increase spending on this program twice – from 6.8 billion UAH in 2023 to 14.3 billion UAH next year.
“The fifth priority is the recovery of our economy. No tax increases are expected. The government continues programs of preferential lending, the program of non-refundable grants – work, support for Ukrainian startups. We also launch new programs for industrial parks, implementation of investment projects, to support the Ukrainian manufacturer”, – he concluded.
Export of important goods from Ukraine in Jan-June 2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
