German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel is pleased with the resumption of the work of the Normandy format in the framework of the Minsk process.
“I am glad that we are resuming the work in the Normandy format in the framework of the Minsk process,” Merkel said at a joint briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin on Tuesday.
First Deputy Prime Minister and Economic Development and Trade Minister Stepan Kubiv at the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) has called the bank to increase financing of projects in Ukraine commensurate with the country’s contribution in the bank’s share capital, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry has reported on its website.
“It is important that the Board of Governors expands the activities of the bank and in 2018 approved 28 new projects worth EUR 569.7 million. At the same time, it is important that the active portfolio in Ukraine corresponds to the level of our contribution to the share capital of the bank, that is, 13.5% rather than 6% as we see today,” the ministry’s press service said, citing Kubiv speakingh in Istanbul (Turkey).
He also proposed holding the 22nd annual meeting of the BSTDB in Ukraine in 2020.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established in 1998 by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries.
Ambassador William B. Taylor has become U.S. Chargé d’Affaires a.i. in Ukraine, the United States Embassy informs. “The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv is pleased to welcome Ambassador William B. Taylor back to Ukraine as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. He will lead our team in this period of historic elections and transition,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said.
Cattle numbers in Ukraine as of June 1, 2019 amounted to 3.74 million animals, which is 4% less than on the same date in 2018, the State Statistics Service has reported. At the same time, the number of cows by this date decreased by 4.3%, to 1.93 million animals.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-May 2019 the number of pigs remained unchanged compared with the same date in 2018, being 6.3 million animals, sheep and goats fell by 2.5%, to 1.6 million animals compared to the same period of 2018.
The number of poultry in the country compared with June 1, 2018 increased by 4.8%, reaching 234.6 million birds.
Charges brought in a case opened into the embezzlement of state funds allocated for the construction of fortifications, also known as Project Wall, along the border with Russia have been forwarded to the Darnytsky District Court of Kyiv. “Charges have been filed against three officials of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, three directors of contractor firms and two intermediaries. A total of eight people will go on trial,” the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine said on its Facebook page.
These persons are suspected of embezzling Ukrainian budget money allocated for efforts to equip the Russian-Ukrainian state border, territories adjoining the zone of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the post said.
Investigators have established that Ukrainian State Border Guard Service officials, acting in complicity and with the help of companies, misappropriated UAH 16.688 million (over $630,000) worth of budget funds.
Project Wall includes the construction of fortifications along the Russian-Ukrainian state border and in territories adjoining the area of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas.
In February 2019, Ukrainian State Border Guard Service spokesman Oleh Slobodian estimated the readiness of Project Wall at around 30% at that time.
