President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has reported that he urged the large business to help the country, which “has been feeding it for many years” with finances, namely a separate fund will be set up for purchase of medicine and other necessary means during coronavirus spreading.
“We urgently need 50 ambulances. This is the amount that is not enough for our hospitals. We talked about certain means … Honestly, I spoke frankly with them that this country has been feeding them for many years – it’s time you (large businessmen) to help the country,” he said on the air of the Freedom of Speech program on ICTV.
Zelensky said that a separate fund was setting up “and UAH 12-13 billion is needed from businessmen for medicine.”
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of March 17
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 17/03/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that 1 million ‘express tests’ for coronavirus (COVID-19) will be supplied to Ukraine on Saturday, March 21.
“What we are lacking and what we have agreed on is ‘express tests’. That is what not only Ukraine, but also any European country needs now. We agreed with China and we are grateful to them. And a special thank you to Jack Ma [the founder of Alibaba Group] for help. He allocated $80 million. Thanks to him and thanks to Mr.Yaroslavksy [the owner of DCH], we are expecting the arrival of these ‘express tests’ to Ukraine on Saturday. They will be sufficient for around one million people,” he said in the Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech) program on the ICTV television channel on Monday.
The head of state stressed that all of these test kits will be supplied to hospitals.
He also said that a part of test kits will be delivered directly to the front line for Ukrainian servicemen, who are a category of people that cannot be isolated.
Ukraine could limit imports of cheese from the European Union (EU) over almost doubled increase in supplies of cheese in 2019 and due to growth of smuggling, Deputy Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Minister of Ukraine, Taras Kachka, who is also the Trade Representative of Ukraine, has said.
“I’m very annoyed by the situation with the sharp increase in imports of cheeses and generally dairy products from the EU to Ukraine, even smuggling… To stop this, we can take very brutal steps. For example, safeguard measures against the import of cheeses into Ukraine,” Kachka said in an interview with Yevropeiska Pravda (European Truth) ezine.
He said that the sharp increase in imports of these products negatively affects Ukrainian producers.
“If our manufacturers make such a request, it is very likely [that such a scenario will be implemented],” the trade representative said.
“But this is a negative scenario, which can be avoided through greater coordination and greater support for each other. This coordination is much more important to me now in relations with the EU than the revision of tariff quotas,” he said.
Ukraine since the beginning of the agricultural year 2019/2020 (July-June) and as of March 13, 2020 had exported 42.94 million tonnes of grain and legumes, which is 8.66 million tonnes more than on the same date of the previous agri-year.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, to date, the country has exported 16.99 million tonnes of wheat, 21.38 million tonnes of corn, and 4.07 million tonnes of barley.
As of March 13 of this year, 263,700 tonnes of flour had been also exported.
As reported, Ukraine in the 2018/2019 agri-year exported a record 50.4 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour, which is 23% more than in the previous agri-year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in March raised its forecast for grain exports in Ukraine for the 2019/2020 agri-year by 680,000 tonnes compared with the February forecast, to 57.34 million tonnes due to corn.
