During the visit of French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire to Kyiv on Thursday, four strategic intergovernmental agreements will be signed totaling EUR 1.3 billion.
“Indeed, during my visit, France will sign four strategic intergovernmental agreements with Ukraine for a total of EUR 1.3 billion. This is very significant! And I want to emphasize one key point: these projects will help improve the living conditions of Ukrainians. We are talking about drinking water, mobility, security and civil protection,” Le Maire said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that he was happy to come to Kyiv, meet with the Ukrainian authorities and have the opportunity to strengthen economic ties between the two countries.
“France and Ukraine have a lot in common: we are both industrial countries, we are countries with an important part of agriculture, we are European countries fully committed to strengthening Europe’s place in the international arena,” the minister said.
Le Maire also said that in 2020, the total trade volume between France and Ukraine reached EUR 1.6 billion.
“Our economic relationship is very dynamic and we are on the right track. I want to give you one single figure: in 2020, the total trade volume between France and Ukraine reached EUR 1.6 billion – a very important amount that remains stable despite the COVID-19 recession. Now we want to strengthen and accelerate economic cooperation between our two countries. This is the purpose of my visit to Kyiv,” he said.
The French concern Alstom is ready to increase the level of localization in the contract for the supply of electric locomotives to Ukraine, French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has said. “For example, with regard to the contract for the supply of electric locomotives, Alstom is ready to localize up to 35% of production and service in Ukraine. At the beginning of the discussion, Alstom planned to localize about 20% of production in Ukraine. We realized that this was not enough. This is a vivid evidence of our readiness to take into account the legitimate request of the Ukrainian authorities,” Le Maire said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that France fully understands the request of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who wants French companies involved in contracts with Ukraine to locate a significant part of their production in Ukraine.
“This is a perfectly legal requirement, and we acted accordingly,” Le Maire said.
The Minister said that France has a long history with Ukraine, and he is determined to open a new chapter of this long journey from an economic point of view.
“There is a significant network of French companies in Ukraine: now there are 160 French companies in the country, employing 30,000 people. This makes French companies the leading international employers in Ukraine. We also want to strengthen our ties in very specific sectors: utilities with distribution of drinking water, energy, infrastructure and transport such as trains, healthcare and, of course, agriculture. In all these sectors, I think there are opportunities for deepening and expanding relations,” Le Maire said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 13/05/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
By decision No. 715 dated May 6, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine canceled the rights of SkyUp to fly on 33 routes from Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Zaporizhia and Kharkiv to a number of countries. According to the document on the State Aviation Administration’s website, the flight rights were revoked based on the airline’s statement.
According to the regulator, SkyUp canceled flights from Kyiv to Poprad, Nuremberg, Hannover, Athens, Stockholm, Warsaw, Memmingen, Amman, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Cologne, Ljubljana, Copenhagen, Bratislava, Brno, Ostrava and Gdansk.
SkyUp will not fly from Lviv to Munich, Stuttgart, Bratislava, Amsterdam and Prague.
SkyUp also waived the rights to flights from Odesa to Munich, Athens, Larnaca and Amsterdam; from Zaporizhia – to Berlin, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv and Prague; and besides, from Kharkiv to Bratislava, Tel Aviv and Prague.
By another decision No. 719 dated May 6, the State Aviation Administration also, on the basis of the airline’s appeal, reduced the possible frequency of SkyUp flights on flights from Kyiv to Yerevan, Alicante, Catania, Rimini, Bologna, Palma de Mallorca.
At the same time, in April SkyUp Airlines carried 138,160 passengers, operating 836 passenger flights, which is 128 flights more than a month earlier.
Export of aluminum and products from it in January-April-2021 grew by 46.4% compared to January-April 2020, to $49.551 million (in April – $13.167 million), lead and products from it by 60%, to $12.360 million ($2.723 million), nickel and products – by 31.2%, to $1.367 million ($0.352 million).
In addition, zinc exports in January-April-2021 amounted to $17,000 (in April – $7,000), while in January-April-2020 it was also $17,000. Export of tin and products in January-April-2020 amounted to $8,000 (in April – $3,000), while in January-April 2020 – $42,000.
In addition, Ukraine in January-April-2021 increased imports of nickel and products from it by 22.4% compared to the same period in 2020, to $32.750 million (in April – $9.428 million), aluminum and products from it – by 10% , to $129.966 million ($34.997 million). At the same time, it increased the import of lead and products from it by 3.1 times, to $4.603 million ($1.040 million), increased the import of tin and products from it by 43.5%, to $1.145 million ($402,000), and also increased zinc and zinc products by 90.7%, to $28.139 million ($9.561 million).
The next delivery of the Pfizer vaccine may take place after May 17, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has said.
“We expect to receive Pfizer vaccines under the COVAX initiative and direct contract in the near future, tentatively from May 17,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
According to the minister, the Ministry of Health is technically ready to maximize the daily vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, but this requires “more vaccines.”
“You know that now vaccines have been shipped that are in debt to us under the already signed contracts. In the last ten days alone, 1 million doses have arrived. Now the supply volumes of vaccines should increase,” he said.
Stepanov also said that in the near future Ukraine expects to receive vaccines from Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
“As soon as the supply of vaccines increases, we will immediately increase the number of people who will be vaccinated. We can vaccinate 5-6 million people a month in a quiet mode. The main thing is that there are vaccines and those who want to be vaccinated,” Stepanov said.
He also noted that the Ministry of Health has “healthy optimism” regarding the prevention of a new outbreak of COVID-19 as a result of the Easter holidays.
“I am grateful to the Ukrainians for listening to the recommendations and that there were no mass visits to churches during the Easter holidays. The number of people who attended churches, according to the National Police, was 8 times less than it was before the epidemic – 793,000 people versus 7 million,” he said.
