Uzbekistan expects the inbound tourist flow into the country to grow by 34% in 2023, said Shukhrat Isakulov, advisor to the director of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Silk Road office.
“If in 2016 2.2 million tourists visited Uzbekistan, in 2019 – 6.7 million. Of course, the pandemic has affected tourism, but since last year there is already a steady trend to increase the flow of tourists. Last year 5.2 million tourists visited Uzbekistan. This year, we plan to attract 7 million and exceed pre-pandemic indicators,” he told a press conference on Friday.
Authorities in Singapore have decided to abolish the requirement to present a certificate of vaccination against coronavirus or health insurance covering COVID 19 infection when entering the country, Asian media reported.
Such exemptions will take effect from February 13.
Mask wearing on public transport will be abolished but health care facilities will still require them.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health noted that about 80% of the population has received a minimum level of protection against the coronavirus through vaccination against COVID 19.
Last April, Singapore lifted much of the restrictions in place to combat the coronavirus.
6.9 million foreign tourists will visit India in 2022, four times more than in the last two years of the coronavirus pandemic, the Hindustan Times reported.
“Gangapuram Union Minister of Tourism and Culture Kishan Reddy said nearly 6.9 million foreign tourists visited India in 2022. After two years of decline due to the coronavirus pandemic, arrivals quadrupled. According to him, the increase in tourist arrivals means the industry is moving in the right direction to achieve sustainable tourism,” Reddy said.
Reddy said the Ministry of Tourism will emphasize inbound tourism this year and launch the “Visit India 2023” promotion. “We have 40 UNESCO heritage sites and we celebrate more than 1,000 festivals every year,” he specified.
He also noted that the country has built an extensive tourism infrastructure over the past eight years, and now the authorities want to rethink the approach to tourism in India.
“To ensure digitalization of the tourism sector, a ‘National Tourism Mission’ is being developed. In the first phase, the ministry has created a national integrated database of the hospitality industry, which should make it easier for businesses to operate,” the newspaper wrote.
Indian authorities also plan to develop adventure tourism, eco-tourism and other areas.
Ukraine may get at least five biomethane plants this year, the head of the Board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (BAU) George Geletukha said.
“The topic of biomethane is developing very positively. Last year we managed to pass the basic bill (¹ 5464 from October 21, 2021). Also, the price of natural gas increased, and now it is more profitable to make biomethane than to let biogas for electricity. Companies are interested in this, and I think that this year we will see at least five biomethane projects,” Geletukha said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.
He noted that the implementation of such number of projects during the war would be a positive signal and after the war Ukraine will be able to build up to a hundred of such plants per year.
Geletukha specified that already in the nearest February days the first plant with the capacity of 3 million cubic meters of biomethane a year will be launched in Chernihiv region by Hals-Argo company. In addition the company is also supposed to launch a project with a capacity of 10 million cubic meters in the Kiev region.
According to the BAU head, Hals-Argo has five operating biogas plants, which produce electricity, but it is more economical to produce biomethane.
Geletukha added that other companies are implementing three more projects expected this year with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters, 25 million cubic meters and 50 million cubic meters. One of the plants is built from scratch, four are converted to the production of electricity from biogas.
In addition the head of BAU said that today, in particular the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is ready to consider credits for biomethane projects, in contrast to projects for the production of “green” electricity, as payments for it are unstable by the “Guaranteed Buyer”.
He explained that biomethane producers are not dependent on GarPoca and also have the potential to export it. However, Galetukha called the issue “still debatable.”
“There is now a ban on the export of natural gas, but biomethane is not. Therefore, the Ministry of Energy with regard to biomethane producers promises not to create any problems, but to bring its proposed batches (when they will be) into the quota, which is allowed for export. That is, promises to quota without restrictions,” said the head of the BAU.
At the same time, he noted that European companies are asking the association about the possible export of Ukrainian biomethane, but are waiting “and the first biomethane, and signals from the government, whether it can get to Europe.”
“It will be a positive precedent,” Geletukha summarized.
He added that Ukrainian businesses are more interested in exporting biomethane than selling it domestically, because in Europe they pay the so-called renewability premium, that is, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“There is no such premium inside Ukraine, and it is quite interesting. Europeans are ready to pay it because of the tax on CO2 emissions in the amount of EUR80 per ton. Europeans are ready to buy more expensive biomethane in order not to pay this tax”, – described the situation Geletukha.
As reported, in July 2022 the Regional Gas Company and “Hals Agro” agricultural holding (the owner of LLC “Gorodische-Pustovarovskaya Agrarian Company”) have signed an agreement on connection of the biomethane plant in Chernihiv region to the gas distribution network. Then it was reported that at the beginning of 2023, Ukraine’s first physical connection of the plant’s capacities to the gas distribution networks was being prepared. Apart from the Chernihiv project, WGC announced the second biomethane plant in Vinnytsia region to be connected to the gas distribution networks in the second half of 2023.
In October 2022, RGC, Hals Agro and STX Commodities B.V. of the Netherlands signed a memorandum of cooperation to sell Ukraine’s first biomethane to Europe.
“We are gradually developing our project and are now entering the final stage – planning the sale of biomethane to the EU, which will allow us to work steadily and plan to expand production volumes,” said Hals-Agro director Sergei Kravchuk at the time.
Dionis Biogas Energy LLC (Dionis BGE, Kiev), which launched a new biogas complex with installed capacity of 4.5 MW in mid-February 2022, also announced its interest in biomethane.
Ukraine and Egypt are considering the realization of joint logistics projects in agriculture, in particular the creation of a logistics hub in Egypt for supplying Ukrainian grain.
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the relevant agreements were reached during the meeting between the head of the Ministry Nicholas Solsky and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Ukraine Ayman Ahmed Mukhtar Elgammal.
“They paid special attention to the detailed discussion of the possibility of expanding trade relations between Ukraine and Egypt and deepening cooperation in the agricultural sector. Mr. Ayman Ahmed Mukhtar Elgammal expressed Egypt’s interest in the implementation of joint agricultural logistics projects. We are talking, in particular, about the creation of a logistics hub for grain supplies. Mykola Solskyy noted that Ukraine will consider Egypt’s proposal,” – was stated in the report of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
Also during the meeting, the parties discussed the implementation of the humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine and Ukraine’s role in ensuring food security of the world.
As reported, a similar desire to build hubs for the importation of Ukrainian agricultural products expressed Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana during the visit of delegations of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy to African countries in January 2023.
The State Agency for Food Purchasing of Egypt (GASC) purchased 60 thousand tons of corn of Ukrainian origin on February 6. The agricultural products were purchased from the operator Egyptian African Co in two batches of 30,000 tons each at a price of $323/ton.
The earthquake that occurred this week, according to the latest data, killed 21,848 people in Turkey, Anadolu Agency reported on Saturday.
It notes that the figures were announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The day before it was reported about 20.2 thousand dead.
According to Western media estimates, the total number of earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria has already exceeded 25 thousand people.
