KYIV. March 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Over half of Ukrainian tourists visiting Turkey (60%) choose Antalya for their trips.
“Next popular cities with Ukrainian tourists after Antalya are Istanbul, Bodrum and Dalaman,” Director of Tourism Development Center Volodymyr Tsaruk said at a press breakfast organized by Coral Travel tour operator.
Commenting on the double increase of the number of Ukrainian tourists in Turkey in 2016, Head of the Federation of Turkish Hotels Osman Ayik said at present special programs to attract Ukrainians, who earlier went to Crimea, to trips to Turkey are being designed.
Ayik expressed hope that the permit to go to Turkey using national passports by Ukraine and Turkey would influence the tourist flow to both countries.
As reported, in February 2017 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that Ukraine and Turkey will introduce the regulations of mutual visits of the two countries’ citizens without international passports.
In 2016, 1.25 million tourists from Ukraine visited Turkey.
KYIV. March 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Within the framework of participation in the enlarged summit of the European People’s Party in Malta, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has met with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, during which the parties discussed issues of cooperation between the two states, as well as cooperation on the path of European integration of Ukraine.
“Mariano Rajoy confirmed that Spain will always assist Ukraine in the implementation of its European integration aspirations, particularly in the context of the completion of the process of ratifying the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU and the liberalization of the visa regime for Ukrainian citizens,” the presidential press service said on Thursday.
During the meeting, the importance of maintaining regular contacts at the highest level, including through the exchange of visits was also noted.
“The president of Ukraine is convinced that in the near future a positive decision will be found in the Agreement on the joint air space between Ukraine and the EU, which will ensure its signing,” information says.
Poroshenko thanked for Spain’s continued support of Ukraine in its counteraction to Russian aggression. The need to maintain the current EU sanctions regime in relation to the Russian Federation until the full implementation of the Minsk agreements and the restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine was noted.
In turn, the prime minister of Spain noted the support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and confirmed that the issue of inviolability of the integrity of the territory of the Ukrainian state is not subject to any discussion.
The president of Ukraine also expressed gratitude to the Spanish government for a clear position in support of the Ukrainian football player Roman Zozulia.
“Poroshenko said that the situation with Roman is the result of a carefully planned propaganda campaign in the spirit of a hybrid war against Ukraine,” the press service said.
In addition, Rajoy invited Poroshenko to pay a visit to Spain.
KYIV. March 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kryvy Rih City Council has permitted Canada’s Black Iron with assets in Ukraine to design a land allotment plan for the implementation of an iron ore production project at the Shymanivske iron ore field (Kryvy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region).
According to the press release of Black Iron, Shymanivske Steel LLC, Black Iron’s wholly owned Ukrainian subsidiary, runs the project.
The land allotment plan is a detailed report to be prepared by Shymanivske Steel to show the city of Kryvy Rih how Shymanivske Steel proposes to use the leased land by describing the proposed major infrastructure and utility tie-ins required for the Shymanivkse project.
Black Iron’s Vice President Government & Community Relations Mykola Bayrak said that obtaining City Council approval to initiate the land allotment process was the result of an extensive process of documentation and public hearings culminating in a vote by Kryvy Rih City Council.
“I am very pleased by the strong support from City Council as 50 councilors voted in favor of awarding Shymanivske Steel the permission to initiate the land allotment process and only four councilors abstained from voting with none objecting,” he said.
As reported, the Canadian company is implementing its project to build a new mining company in Ukraine. The cost of the project is over $1 billion. Over $60 million has been invested.
In October 2010 Black Iron acquired Geo-Alliance Ore East Limited, a Cyprus-based subsidiary of Geo Alliance Group Limited of EastOne Investment Group belonging to Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk, together with licenses worth $13 million, and renamed it Black Iron (Cyprus) Ltd.
The Cypriot company owns over 99% of the shares in Shymanivske Steel LLC and Zelenivske Steel (both based in Dnipro), which own licenses to exploit iron ore mines for the period until November 1, 2024 and November 1, 2014 respectively.
In July 2013, Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest mining and steel group, has reached an agreement with Black Iron Inc on investment in Black Iron (Cyprus) Ltd (BKI Cyprus), a subsidiary of the Canadian mining company that owns the iron ore assets in Ukraine. The agreements require Metinvest to make an initial investment of $20 million in BKI Cyprus to help finance the projects. Later Metinvest left the project.
In Q3 2014 the company received a permit to develop the field and was passing the land allotment procedure. In addition, Black Iron Inc. asked the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry to extend the permit to explore the Zelenivske field to study its potential.
KYIV. March 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and former British Prime Minister David Cameron have discussed reforms in Ukraine.
“This morning I had an excellent meeting with former British Prime Minister David Cameron, we discussed in detail the reforms in Ukraine, the government’s measures to attract foreign investment, and the situation in Donbas,” Groysman wrote on his Facebook page.
According to him, Cameron supports the Ukrainian authorities’ efforts both regarding the reform of the state and the confrontation to the Russian aggression in Ukraine’s east.
“We agreed on a new meeting, this time in London, as part of a high-level international conference, which we will organize in July together with our international partners and which will deal with the reforms in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian prime minister said.
Cameron is currently on a visit to Ukraine.
KYIV. March 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and South Korea are working on boosting cooperation in the aerospace area.
The press service of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) reported that further development of promising cooperation in the sphere was discussed at the fifth meeting of the Ukrainian-South Korean committee for scientific and technical cooperation of the relevant joint working group.
“The sides discussed the state and prospects for development of Ukrainian-South Korean cooperation in the current cooperation spheres and studied the opportunities of developing cooperation in new areas, the satellite segment and the application of global space systems in the public economy sphere,” the press service said.
Representatives of South Korean Ministry of Science, ITC and Future Planning, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the South Korean Embassy in Ukraine and representatives of SSAU, Yuzhnoye (Pivdenne) Design Bureau, Research and Production Enterprise Hartron-Arkos Ltd. and the National Center of Space Facilities Control And Test took part in the meeting.
South Korea is a promising partner of Ukraine in cooperation in the aerospace sphere in Southeast Asia. The sides have successful cooperation in the launch services: in 2013-2015 Dnepr carrier rocket placed South Korean satellites KompSat-5, STSat-3 and KompSat-3A to orbit.
Yuzhmash (Pivdenmash) is holding talks with KARI on expanding cooperation in the creation of aerospace equipment. Recently Yuzhmash finished a contract signed with KARI in 2016 to supply equipment to the customer.
KYIV. March 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The trade mission to India for representatives of Ukraine’s agricultural and food industry will be organized in September 2017, Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry reported on Wednesday.
“As usual, this will be joint work of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry, Economic Development and Trade Ministry and Export Promotion Office. September was selected not by chance. In this period Mumbai will host one of the largest exhibitions “Annapoorna – World of Food India 2017,” Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister for European Integration Olha Trofimtseva said.
The ministry said that in 2016 India was first among the countries where Ukrainian food was exported. Its share of exports was 10.2%.
