On Sunday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) delivered to Ukraine 2,930,300 doses of mRNA vaccine from COVID-19 manufactured by Moderna, the Health Ministry of Ukraine said on its website.“Ukraine receives vaccines under the COVAX Facility free of charge. COVAX is an unprecedented initiative of solidarity among the international community to support access to effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines for all countries,” the message reads.“So far, 11 million Ukrainians have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine … Moderna is the fourth vaccine available in Ukraine for vaccination against COVID-19. I thank the international partners for their systematic support and common desire to overcome the pandemic,” said Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine.Together with the newest supply, UNICEF has delivered 7,415,810 doses of vaccines by various manufacturers (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac) as part of COVAX.“We hope all educators complete their vaccination as soon as possible, including with vaccines from this batch, so schools are open and children return to classrooms … According to the latest UNICEF survey, 42% of Ukrainians who have not been vaccinated yet are ready to get vaccinated, which is encouraging. Please get protection now,” said Murat Sahin, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine.In turn, the World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the delivery of the Moderna vaccine at the COVAX initiative to Ukraine. With everybody’s efforts, there are now vaccines available to administer a hundred thousand vaccines daily,” said Dr. Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative and Head of WHO Country Office in Ukraine.In-country storage and logistics of shipments of mRNA vaccines from COVAX, in accordance with the correct cold chain requirements, are provided by USAID. COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with UNICEF as key implementing partner, as well as civil society organisations, vaccine manufacturers, governments of US, UK, European Union, World Bank, and others.
Participants of the tobacco market initiate the launch of an information campaign for representatives of retail distribution to combat illegal tobacco products, which share on the Ukrainian market in May 2021 increased to 15.9%, with 67% of sales of such products accounted for by legal trade channels.
The details of the information campaign initiated by the Ukrtyutyun Association, international corporations with capacities for the production of tobacco products in Ukraine, Ukrainian cigarette manufacturers, a number of their distributors and the Association of Ukrainian Cities were announced by Director of Ukrtyutyun Natalia Fesiun at a press conference held on November 5.
During the conference, she cited data from the Kantar Ukraine research institute, according to which, in January-May 2021, the volume of illegally sold cigarettes amounted to 7.21 billion pieces, which led to a shortfall in the state budget of UAH 13.2 billion in taxes.
To combat the growth of the illegal cigarette market in Ukraine, an information campaign was initiated for the owners and employees of retail stores to reduce their involvement in the distribution of illegal tobacco products.
During the information campaign, its participants plan to distribute more than 120,000 information leaflets with information on legal responsibility for the storage and sale of illegal cigarettes and its negative impact of illegal products on the Ukrainian cigarette market.
Fesiun said that the initiators of the campaign expect a decrease in the level of sales of illegal tobacco products through legal sales channels as early as 2022.
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is undergoing certification, and a decision on the involvement of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine in the certification process will be made next week, Head of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSOU) Serhiy Makohon has said.
“A decision [on the involvement of GTS Operator of Ukraine in the certification process] is expected to be made next week,” Makohon said on Facebook.
On November 4, 2021, a unique, in the context of Ukraine, event took place at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, dedicated to the creation of a new and unified platform I-Dolina, which is designed to unite the creative industry of our state.
The event was organized by the International Technology Transfer Association represented by its head Artem Honcharenko.
Special attention was drawn to its speakers, namely:
– Oleh Sytnyk – representative of the Information Committee of the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce;
– Ge Jian, Chief Representative of G-Global International Secretariat in China;
– Rostyslav Nakonechny – deputy chairman of the board of IBOX Bank;
– Nadiya Vasilyeva – director of the Digital Transformation Institute, Ph.D. in Economics, ex-CEO of Microsoft Ukraine;
– Andriy Zavadovsky – Principal Engineer, Office of CTO Security at Cisco;
– Svitlana Oleinykova – fundraising expert, managing partner of Synergy Universe group of companies – the first fundraising ecosystem in Ukraine;
– Den Tolmor – producer and writer, Oscar and Emmy nominations;
– Dmytro Kolesnikov – chairman of ARMA Ukraine, founder of UNI.UA;
– Iryna Polischuk – director of Kyiv Junior Academy of Sciences of student youth, candidate of chemical sciences;
– Oleksandr Pavlov – chairman of the board of the Ukraine-Israel Business Council;
– Oleksandr Tepliuk – member of the supervisory board of the International Technology Transfer Association.
Each speaker is not just a specialist in his field, but first of all a person who helps move and develop the creative industry, both in Ukraine and abroad.
Today in Ukraine there are already more than 200,000 specialists directly or indirectly related to the IT industry, and also, as Artem Honcharenko specified, more than a million people are involved in the entire creative industry, which is a huge number in the context of our country.
The IT cluster of specialists, already occupying its niche in the economy of our country, accounts for more than 4% of the GDP, and brings billions of dollars in revenues. However, at the state level there is little legislative and infrastructural support.
And therefore, self-organization, the creation of a single, independent platform can become a new driving mechanism that will accelerate the process of formation and development of the entire creative community of our state.
Each speaker expressed not only his vision of the future of this industry, but also supported the initiative to create a platform as a new unique tool.
Grant support, support for startups, copyrights, cooperation with foreign enterprises and organizations, as well as the creation of infrastructure facilities are just part of what the residents of the I-Dolina platform can soon receive.
Already this year, according to Artem Honcharenko, the founder of I-Dolina, for the first time in Ukraine, a competition will be held among developers, architects and building educational institutions for the Best Developer for the Creative Industry, the Best Architectural Project for the Creative Industry and the Best Educational Institution for the Creative Industry.
Next year, a joint event is planned with the Junior Academy of Sciences, where issues of monetization of science based on the new I-Dolina platform will be discussed, which will provide an additional incentive for young scientists and inventors.
A special place on the I-Dolina platform is given to cooperation with the educational institutions with which memorandums of cooperation have already been signed, namely Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Ternopil Puluj National Technical University, etc.
Also, agreements and memorandums will be signed with international companies and organizations, which will allow the development of the creative industry on the territory of the country, creating the best infrastructure facilities and conditions to stop the huge outflow of personnel from the country.
This measure, according to the participants and organizers, to create I-Dolina will be the first significant step, not only to unite representatives of the creative industry, but also to shape the industry as one of the most influential economic players, which is already influencing the formation of the future of Ukraine.
Particular thanks go to the speakers from the United States, Israel and China, who have already expressed their desire to cooperate on many projects. These countries are not only leaders in the development of technologies, but those who set them as the basis for the future of their countries.
Ukraine is among the five bidders for hosting the final tournament of the 2025 UEFA Women’s Championship, according to the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF).
According to the UAF, UEFA has received five declarations of interest representing eight member associations to host the 2025 women’s Euros.
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have applied to stage the event jointly whilst France, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine have shown interest in going for it individually.
The bidding for the final tournament began in July 2021. The deadline for the submission of the bid dossiers is October 2022, and the successful bidder will be selected by the UEFA Executive Committee in December 2022.
UEFA has responded to the ever-growing popularity of women’s football by raising the standard for competition in 2025. Bidders are recommended to present eight Category 4 stadiums, with a variety of capacities ranging from 15,000 to 30,000, UEFA said.
Ukraine has experience in hosting the final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the UAF said. In addition, the UAF recently approved a strategy for the development of women’s football in a country that backed by UEFA.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law on ratification of the protocol between the government of Ukraine and the government of the Republic of Belarus on amendments to the agreement between the government of Ukraine and the government of the Republic of Belarus on international road traffic of December 17, 1992 (No. 0060).
The relevant document was supported by 281 MPs.
The Ministry of Infrastructure noted that this law will liberalize the conditions for carrying out freight traffic between Ukraine and Belarus, free irregular passenger road transport from the licensing system, and also unblock the work of Ukrainian road carriers in the Baltic and Scandinavian directions.
“The lack of the required number of permits from Poland and Belarus, additional conditions for transit through Russia led to a situation in which Ukrainian exporters were virtually cut off from the markets of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Only due to the lack of Belarusian permits, the loss of income of carriers in November-December this year should amount to UAH 1 billion. If we also take into account the needs of producers, then the actual losses for the country would be even greater. Today, the parliament defended Ukraine’s national interests in the international freight market and protected Ukrainian exports,” Deputy Infrastructure Minister Mustafa Nayyem is cited on the ministry’s Facebook page.
