Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has spoken in favor of developing economic relations with South Korea and called for allowing the delivery of Korean anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine.
“Given the resources Ukraine has and the technology Korea has, I believe we can achieve great results in the field of lithium batteries,” he said in an interview with Chosun Ilbo.
“We are trying to rebuild the country by learning from Korea’s experience in the ruins of war and combining it with our own experience. We can cooperate a lot in security and defense, advanced technology and cyberspace, and in the process of rehabilitating our people after the war. We are also very interested in cooperation in the field of green energy. Given Ukraine’s resources, Korea’s large reserves and technological capabilities, I think the field of lithium batteries is very promising. After lithium extraction in Ukraine, it’s possible to produce related products. We have lithium production capacities from the time of the former Soviet Union,” he also said.
In addition, Zelensky noted assistance to Ukraine in terms of demining. “Currently, about a third of Ukraine’s territory is covered with anti-personnel mines. Thousands of farmers, civilians and children have been killed or disabled because of Russian anti-personnel mines. Mine clearance equipment is one of Ukraine’s most important defense systems that saves lives. The demining equipment that South Korea has decided to provide will save the lives and health of countless farmers and children,” Zelensky said.
The president also called for assistance to Ukraine with deliveries of anti-aircraft systems. “We know that there are several restrictions on arms support. However, I believe that Korea’s principles should not apply to defense systems and equipment to protect energy systems. Air defense systems are purely defensive equipment, not weapons. There must be a “sky shield” to rebuild Ukraine. We sincerely hope that Korea will support us in this area. Besides, there is an early warning system for Russian air strikes, which also needs help from South Korea,” the president said.
Ukraine resumed export of nitrogen fertilizers and exported 12 thousand tons in January-April this year, Infoindustriya news agency reported.
“The focus on export is not accidental: because of the decrease of activity in the domestic market of Ukraine producers will have to go to foreign markets (Turkey, Moldova, EU countries). We can even export complex fertilizers, although the cost of phosphate remains high, but the available potassium and the low price of gas opens other opportunities for producers”, – explained the director of the agency Dmitriy Gordeichuk.
According to the agency, in the four months of 2023, Ukraine also exported to Moldova and the EU 3 thousand tons of carbamide, about 2 thousand tons of lime nitrate, 565 tons of urea.
Now Ukraine has low gas prices compared to the EU countries, which allow Ukrainian producers to export profitably, primarily urea, the analysts emphasized.
The Ministry of Reconstruction hosted the first meeting of the architectural and construction (attestation) commission, the ministry’s press service said.
“The urban planning reform the Ministry of Reconstruction is working on requires quality personnel at all levels, including at the level of architects, design engineers, technical supervision engineers and experts. Quality expertise and professionalism will help to avoid many mistakes at the stage of implementation of urban planning rules and building regulations. We look forward to cooperation of the community of architects, because the quality of life of millions of Ukrainians depends on our work together”, – the press service of the Ministry quotes Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Natalia Kozlovska, who headed the Commission.
According to the press release, attestation of architects will be held at three universities: the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, the Kharkiv National University of Municipal Economy named after O.M. Beketov and the Lviv Polytechnic National University, – the corresponding memorandums on cooperation were signed at the commission session.
It is expected that about 200 people will apply for the qualification certificate of architect. Nowadays in Ukraine there are about 4 thousand certified architects, 85% of them specialize on architectural volumetric planning and the rest 15% – on working out of town-planning documentation. All architects are obliged to improve their qualification every 5 years. In November 2022 the Ministry of Regional Development approved curriculums for raising the qualification of architects, besides the three above mentioned universities, also for the Pridneprovsky State Academy of Construction and Architecture.
In addition, the commission approved the procedure for examinations, which provides that architects will be able to take them both in written form and in digital form, using the software of universities. As expected, the new order is aimed at removing the human factor influence on the final result and reducing corruption risks during certification to zero.
“Now the Ministry is working on the possibility of taking exams online in the Unified State Electronic System in the field of construction (USESB). The system will independently verify the correctness of the answers, generate a qualification certificate of the architect and enter the relevant data into the register of certified persons EGESB. By completely eliminating the human factor, we will be able to reduce to zero any corruption risks in the attestation of architects,” commented Kozlovskaya.
Thus, after a year the attestation of architects has been restored. Until then, it was carried out by the National Union of Architects of Ukraine (NUAU).
As reported, earlier order of the Ministry of Regional Development № 71 from May 12, 2022 extended the delegated authority for the period of military operations to three of the four self-regulatory organizations: Association of Construction Industry Experts, Guild of Designers in Construction, Guild of Engineers of Technical Supervision of Architecture Construction. At the same time, the NSAU, which had previously certified architects, was absent from the order. This collision created difficulties in the work of the ESPSB: architects, whose qualification confirmation deadline had expired, could not upload their projects into the unified system or make changes.
As explained to Interfax-Ukraine by the press service of the Ministry of Restoration, the NSAU is currently unable to certify architects.
Rafael Goroyan, the owner and the head of the Prometey Group of Companies, a big Ukrainian grain trader, positively evaluated the initiative of the President of Ukraine to impose sanctions against Iran for 50 years.
The resolution, which was voted for yesterday by people’s deputies, envisages, in particular, a complete ban on trade operations.
“I welcome this decision of the state authorities of Ukraine. Today our country is one of the main suppliers of agricultural products to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
I believe that the ban on trade will significantly affect the food security of Iran, the government of the country is likely to face starvation among the population.
The Islamic Republic will be left with one supplier of grain – the Russian Federation, on which it will be completely dependent. This means that the supplier will be able to dictate prices, which will certainly hit Iran’s economy,” Rafael Goroyan is sure.
Oil prices continue to decline Tuesday afternoon on concerns over the U.S. government debt ceiling.
Brent crude futures for July on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $76 a barrel by 1:44 p.m. Tuesday, down $1.07 (1.39%) from the previous session’s close.
The price of WTI crude futures for July on the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) was down by that time by $0.84 (1.16%), to $71.83 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the debt ceiling agreement before it goes to the Senate.
Active opponents of the agreement in both houses of parliament could slow its passage, The Wall Street Journal noted. Some conservative lawmakers have already said they would not support the deal because it does not sufficiently limit budget spending, while progressive Democrats believe the spending cuts are excessive.
“This uncertainty is keeping oil prices up,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Suzanne Streeter, whose words are cited by Barron’s.
In addition, traders expect another OPEC meeting on Sunday.
The organization will not take any further steps until it sees the effect of lower production quotas, according to ANZ.
PJSC Vetropack Gostomelsk Glass Works (Kyiv Region) has resumed operations, having started warming up and bringing it to operating temperature, as well as loading the first glass furnace; the first glass is expected to be produced in June, the plant’s press service said.
“The domestic market is slowly resuming, and many companies have restarted production. We expect demand for food and beverage glass containers to increase by about 7% in 2023 compared to the previous year, in parallel with the development of our production facilities,” said Pavel Prinko, general director of Vetropack in Ukraine and Moldova.
According to the company, Vetropack will start with the production of colorless glass for food and beverages, as the company now sees the greatest demand for it. The second glass furnace will be commissioned in the near future.
Protection of employees will be a priority in the resumption of operations. In addition, the production site is prepared for all possible emergency scenarios. Vetropack Holding has developed various engineering scenarios to ensure power supply during a power outage. The power distribution system has been rebuilt and additional generators have been installed. There are also appropriate plans in place for possible natural gas outages, the company’s press office said.
The company reminded that before the war Vetropack in Ukraine produced different types of glass containers on three furnaces and eight production lines. On February 24, 2022 the production was stopped for security reasons. One of the three furnaces at the plant was destroyed due to military action. The losses forced the company to cut about two-thirds of its roughly 600 jobs at the plant. Vetropack has now hired 139 new employees to restart production from among its former employees.
In the summer of 2022, Vetropack created a fund to support employees who were seriously injured or whose homes or apartments were destroyed. Money was donated by employees of other businesses, business partners and customers, and CHF960,000 was raised in a few months. In early 2023, the Gostomel Holding Vetropack fund began its first payments. In April 2023, Vetropack supported more than 50 affected colleagues.
Vetropack Gostomel Glassworks PJSC since 2006 is a part of European Vetropack Group, a large producer of glass containers with production plants in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovakia. Produces containers for domestic producers of food and beverages – more than 600 million pieces per year.
The main market for manufactured containers is Ukraine, the main customers – Sun InBev Ukraine, Carlsberg Ukraine, Coca-Cola, Obolon PJSC, Radomyshl Brewery, Persha Privatna Brovarnya LLC, KIM Ltd.
“Vetropack Gostomel Glass Plant,” according to opendatabot.ua, in 2022, reduced its assets by 1.6 times to 1.52 billion UAH. The losses of the company reached 903.66 million UAH, compared with 140.88 million UAH of profit in 2021. Income of the company in 2022 decreased 3.9 times to UAH 621.52 mln.
Vetropack Group (Switzerland) currently has about 3 thousand employees in seven countries, produces about 4.5 billion pieces of glass containers annually.
