Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 16
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The European Union (EU) is confident that Ukraine, as a European country, has the right to be a member of the community, but now the issue of reforms is on the agenda.
This is how a European diplomat commented on the prospects for Ukraine’s membership in the EU on Friday in Brussels. He said that what the EU has with Ukraine is the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, and what the EU is seriously investing in now is to make this agreement a success. It has huge potential for the economy, for the social development of Ukraine, he said.
At the same time, the European diplomat is confident that Ukraine is a European country, and as a European country it has the opportunity of joining the EU.
But this is not what is now on the agenda, he said. Now it is about the implementation of this agreement, it is about reforms, about what precedes accession, he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about the importance of intensive development of tourism between Ukraine and Turkey.
“It is very important that we, [Erdogan] and I are talking about special conditions for Ukrainian and Turkish tourists, citizens. We talked about the need to really increase the level of tourism for Ukrainians and Turkish citizens. This is very important. I think especially now we have to support each other,” Zelensky said following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on Thursday, April 15.
“Erdogan supports our independence, our sovereignty. You heard that Russia said it would restrict tourists or tourism from the Russian Federation to Turkey. It’s their business. And I think that, on the contrary, we need to increase and show that we support Turkey,” Zelensky said.
Also, according to Zelensky, during a meeting with Erdogan in Turkey on April 10, “a number of important documents were signed between Ukraine and Turkey, but support for Ukrainian sovereignty is much more important.”
“But the most important thing today, when we talk about the geopolitical issue, the issue of peace in Ukraine and the support of our partners, it is important that President Erdogan supports Ukraine, supports our temporarily occupied territories, supports Crimea. It is important that he supports our position: he does not recognize annexation of Crimea,” the head of state said.
The Ministry of Health is awaiting the final decision of the European Union regarding immune passports and their introduction in Ukraine, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during the “Hour of Questions” to the government in the Verkhovna Rada on Friday.
“On April 13, the EU presented a draft immune passports, which, in addition to the vaccination mark, provide for a mark on the PCR testing and the amount of antibodies. This caused a heated discussion. We expect a final decision from them,” he said.
“For their part, specialists from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Digital Transformation are working with European partners regarding the required data. We are fully prepared for any development of events, because the central component of e-Health is ready to upload data,” the minister added.
HEALTH MINISTER, HEALTH MINISTRY OF UKRAINE, IMMUNE PASSPORTS
The Verkhovna Rada adopted bill No. 4416-1 on re-launch of the mechanism of industrial parks, which provides incentives for residents of such parks. As the agency’s correspondent reports, 260 MPs voted for the bill at the first reading with the required 226 votes.
The bill provides for such incentives for residents in industrial parks as compensation for the share of investments from 15% to 70% of capital expenditures in the first three years depending on the volume of the company’s exports, compensation for the share of interest payments on a loan from 30% to 70% depending on the volume of exports, as well as compensation in the amount of 50% of the cost of connecting to the power grids.
In addition, the bill defines the objects that can be located in the industrial park. For example, in the industrial park it is proposed to permit the placement of offices of a management company, financial institutions, marketing and advertising objects, institutions of higher and vocational education, business campuses, accelerators, foundations, resident companies, and laboratories for the development of innovative technologies. The document also proposes to allow the deployment of fire departments, production and engineering structures and other facilities there.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has allocated an additional UAH 6.5 billion for the purchase of vaccines against COVID-19, the Ministry of Finance said.
“On April 14, a government resolution was adopted on an additional direction from the state budget of funds in the amount of UAH 6.5 billion for the purchase of vaccines against acute respiratory disease COVID-19. This decision was agreed on the same day by the Verkhovna Rada budget committee,” the statement said.
As the ministry noted, taking into account the corresponding expenses in the past year, the total amount of state budget expenditures for the purchase of vaccines is UAH 11.4 billion.
The Ministry of Finance also indicated that it is planned to vaccinate 24 million people, or 70% of the adult population, by the end of 2021. However, this requires almost 6 million vaccinations every month from May to the end of the year (on average, over 250,000 vaccinations per day), which the Ministry of Finance considers a challenge for the Ministry of Health in the context of timely procurement and delivery to Ukraine, as well as organization of vaccination.
“For this, it is necessary to ensure the receipt of almost 48 million doses of vaccines, taking into account 8 million doses that should be received free of charge under the COVAX mechanism,” the ministry said.
