Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has met with Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov following the results of the 14th meeting of the joint Interstate Ukrainian-Kazakh Commission on Economic Cooperation. “Sultanov noted that Ukraine is one of the leaders in the field of agro-industrial complex and IT, therefore Kazakhstan is interested in developing cooperation in these areas,” the press service of the government said.
Shmyhal stressed that Ukraine is interested in developing cooperation with Kazakhstan and considers it an important partner in Central Asia.
“Our countries have a good potential to increase trade. I am convinced that close cooperation between our governments will contribute to further growth in the economic performance of the two countries,” he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, at a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, assured Baghdad that Kyiv will remain a reliable guarantor of Iraqi food security.
According to the MFA press service, during the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, the ministers discussed the development of trade, in particular the increase in the volume of Ukrainian agricultural exports to Iraq.
On Kuleba’s initiative, a delegation of Ukrainian entrepreneurs will visit Iraq to look for new trade opportunities between the countries. Kuleba said that Ukraine will remain a reliable guarantor of food security for Iraq, an important trading partner in the Middle East region.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy expressed support for Iraq’s efforts in the fight against terrorism. The sides paid special attention to the issue of protecting the rights of Ukrainian citizens on the territory of Iraq.
Kuleba also expressed his readiness to work together to increase the number of Iraqi students in Ukrainian educational institutions.
Ukraine may try to refuse cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the electoral cycle 2023-2024, analysts at Bank of America (BofA) believe.
According to the BofA Global Research report, which is owned by Interfax-Ukraine, analysts believe that it may be extended to 2022 “given limited progress.”
“However, we also think that the Ukrainian authorities may try to ‘graduate’ from reliance on IMF financing during the next electoral cycle in the second half of 2023 – the first quarter of 2024,” the analysts said in the report.
According to the report, the authorities may be open to the idea of a new program after the elections as part of broader cooperation with the West, but may prefer not to be bound by IMF conditionality and the usual implementation problems during the electoral campaign.
According to BofA, this may lead to a period without an active IMF program, although some form of cooperation will likely remain in place in any scenario.
The next Verkhovna Rada elections are planned for October 2023, followed by presidential elections in March 2024. This leaves 2022 as the remaining window for continued close cooperation with the IMF, BofA believes.
“We think the extension of the current SBA program [under the stand-by arrangements] for another year or so is the most likely scenario. The extension may allow Ukraine to roll over at least part of its nearly $3 billion in maturities to the IMF in 2021-2022,” BofA said in the report.
Ukraine’s ability to withhold official funding is likely to directly depend on fiscal consolidation in 2022-2023.
At the same time, as noted by BofA, a flexible approach to fiscal policy is likely to mean the need for IMF financing even during the electoral cycle.
Although Ukraine must fulfill a number of conditions in the current program of the Fund, analysts still believe that Ukraine will be able to pass the first test and receive the first tranche in July-September 2021.
The initiative for coal regions in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine, led by the European Commission, will help them attract funding from a number of international financial institutions (IFIs), according to the announcement of the annual meeting of the initiative on June 23-25, made by the Delegation of the European Union in Ukraine. “The aim of the event is to support open, multi-stakeholder dialogue on coal phase out and just transition towards sustainable energy sources in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine,” according to the announcement.
As noted in the EU Delegation, “the initiative will help coal regions access financing for transition projects or programmes, based on various sources available from the European Commission, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank.”
In addition, the initiative contains four other pillars of support. This is a comprehensive stakeholder dialogue, an exchange program between coal mining regions, trainings by the Coal Region Learning Academy and technical assistance.
As stated on the website of the European Commission, the initiative for coal regions with economies in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine was launched in December 2020 and aims to help countries and regions move from coal to a carbon-neutral economy. It will support coal regions in the EU’s neighboring countries, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.
The initiative is managed by the European Commission and collaborates with six international partners: the World Bank, the Energy Community Secretariat, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management of Poland (NFOSiGW), and the College of Europe in Natolin.
The Greek Ministry of Tourism has announced two important changes to the health protocols for tourists entering the country, European Truth said, citing Ekathimerini.
First, the Greek government has decided to allow travelers with a negative rapid test, and not just a PCR test, to enter the country.
Secondly, the minimum age at which children entering the country must provide documents confirming that they are not sick with coronavirus (COVID-19) has been increased. Now children under 12 years old are allowed to enter without such documents. Previously, it was allowed for children under six years old.
All these changes concern people arriving from countries for which it is allowed to travel to Greece and from Greece.
Those traveling to Greece are also given the option to show the EU vaccination certificate in digital or written form instead of a negative test result.
The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe in January-May this year increased steel production by 10.6% compared to the same period last year, to 368,200 tonnes.
According to the company’s monthly report, for the five months of 2021, pipe production increased by 6.4%, to 206,700 tonnes, the output of railway products decreased by 24.1%, to 68,000 tonnes.
In May, steel smelting amounted to 86,000 tonnes (in April – 89,200 tonnes), pipe production – 51,600 tonnes (48,300 tonnes), railway products – 13,000 tonnes (14,700 tonnes).
It is also reported that pipes in January-May of this year were sold in Europe (29%), the MENA region (25%), Ukraine (17%), the CIS (12%), the American continent (14%) and other regions (3%). In May, pipes were sold in Europe (24%), Ukraine (14%), the MENA region (30%), the CIS (11%), the American continent (17%) and other regions (4%).
Railway products for the five months of 2021 were sold in the CIS (48%), Europe (32%), Ukraine (8%), the MENA region (3%), the American continent (7%) and other regions (3%). In May – in the CIS (48%), Europe (29%), Ukraine (7%), the MENA region (2%), the American continent (4%) and in other regions (10%).
According to Interpipe’s commentary, in May 2021, the company’s trading activity continued to recover in all key products and markets in connection with the lifting of quarantine restrictions in the world and the recovery of business activity.
At the same time, the total sales of the company’s pipe products in May increased by 9.1% compared to the previous month, to 48,900 tonnes, and by 6.1% in the five months of 2021, to 198,800 tonnes.
