The head of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Lai Tsing-jeou, has won the presidential election in Taiwan, Western media report.
He received 40.2% of the vote, significantly outpacing his opponents. It is reported that almost all ballots have been counted. However, the Central Election Commission has not yet announced the voter turnout.
The media reminds us that the DPP will remain in power in Taiwan for the third consecutive term: Tsai Ing-wen has held the presidency for two four-year terms since 2016.
Hou Yui of the Kuomintang Party, who won 33% of the vote, has already congratulated Lai Tsing-jeou on his victory. Ke Wen-jeou, the founder and leader of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who managed to win 26.33% of the vote, also conceded defeat.
Later, Lai Tsingde thanked everyone who voted for him, as well as Hou Yui and Ke Wen-jeou, who agreed with the election results.
“We are telling the international community that when it comes to choosing between democracy and authoritarianism, we choose the side of democracy,” he said.
“The party of current Vice President Lai, which defends Taiwan’s identity and rejects China’s territorial claims, is running for a third term, an unprecedented development in Taiwan’s current electoral system,” Reuters notes.
The European Union welcomed the elections held in Taiwan on January 13, citing a common commitment to democracy.
“Our respective systems of governance are based on a common commitment to democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The European Union emphasizes that peace and stability in the Taiwan
Strait area is key to regional and global security and prosperity,” a statement by a spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a statement released on Saturday in Brussels.
At the same time, the EEAS spokesperson noted that the European Union remains concerned about the growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo.”
Earlier, the Experts club information and analytical center released a video about the most important elections in the world in 2024, which predicted the victory of an anti-Chinese candidate for the presidency of Taiwan. More information about the 2024 global elections can be found in the video here: https://youtu.be/73DB0GbJy4M?si=O98WbmetBtle9DnH
Subscribe to the Experts Club channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
The European Commission (EC) is allocating EUR126 million to Romania in 2024 under the “solidarity corridors” program to invest in the development of ports facing an increase in Ukrainian exports, according to its website.
“The funds will allow Romania to reduce bottlenecks created by the sudden increase in the number of goods arriving at ports along the Danube and Black Sea coasts. The funding will help port operators to handle and store goods, thus reducing the blockade caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine. “This will contribute to the EU’s ‘solidarity corridors’ action plan without disrupting excessive competition in the single market,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s vice-president for competition policy.
According to the report, all logistics companies that operate in Romanian ports located on the EU eastern border (Constanta, Galati, Giurgiu), on the Danube-Black Sea canal (Poarta Alba, Midia and Navodari) and the Sulina Canal, in the “satellite ports” of Constanta (Midia and Mangalia) will be able to receive grants of up to EUR10 million.
Operators will receive the assistance needed to cover the additional costs of equipment and storage facilities to handle cargo deviating from their normal trade routes.
The funding has been made available at the request of Romania, which has notified the European Commission of its plans to support companies in Romanian ports to invest in additional handling or storage capacity to process goods from Ukraine. The EUR126m scheme will run until December 31, 2024.
As reported, thanks to increased shipments from Ukraine, the Black Sea Romanian port of Constanta recorded the highest grain exports in 2023 – 36 million tons, up 50% from a year earlier. Ukrainian grain accounted for about 40% of the total, or 14 million tons, up from 13 million at the end of November and from 8.6 million for the whole of 2022.
Romania is making efforts to increase its transit capacity to bring Ukrainian grain handling to 4 million tons per month, for which it is upgrading rail and road infrastructure in and around the port. Ukraine and Romania agreed to launch an additional anchorage for Ukrainian agricultural products in the port of Constanta.
increase in Ukrainian exports, solidarity corridors, The European Commission
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver a special address at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) on January 16, the forum’s press service reports.
According to the organizers, the President of Ukraine will personally attend and speak as part of a discussion panel titled “Achieving Security and Cooperation in a Fragmented World.”
Zelenskyy will be joined by economist and founder of the World Economic Forum in Davos Klaus Martin Schwaab and Forum Director Brende Berge.
The World Economic Forum in Davos will be held from January 15 to 19.
In 2023, Energoatom paid more than UAH 21 billion in tax and other payments to the state budget.
“This is UAH 1 billion more than the company paid to the state budget in 2021, when it operated all 15 nuclear power units,” NNEGC said on Telegram.
The head of Energoatom, Petra Kotina, noted that in terms of taxes and other payments to the state budget in 2023, the company managed to fulfill its obligations, operating only nine power units in the territory controlled by Ukraine without the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP with its six thousandth power units.
As reported, in the first half of 2023, Energoatom received UAH 68 billion in revenue and paid almost UAH 11 billion in taxes to the state budget of Ukraine.
In 2023, Express Insurance (Kyiv) paid insurance claims in the amount of UAH 331.1 million, which is 41.5% more than in 2022.
According to the company’s information, payments for hull insurance amounted to UAH 288.5 million, which is 39.4% more than in 2022, MTPL – UAH 31.5 million (+42.3%), VHI – UAH 6.5 million, which is 2.5 times more than last year.
Payments on other types of insurance amounted to UAH 4.6 million (+98.6%).
The company also reports that in December 2023, it paid UAH 33.1 million to customers, which is UAH 6.6 million more than the same period last year. In particular, payments for motor hull insurance for the past year amounted to UAH 29.8 million (+33.6%), for MTPL – UAH 2.8 million (-19.4% compared to December 2022).
Express Insurance ALC was founded in 2008 with the participation of UkrAVTO Corporation. Since April 2012, it has been an associate member of the Motor Transport Insurance Bureau of Ukraine.
In 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) transported 201.26 thousand twenty-foot equivalent containers (TEUs), up 34% from 2022 and in line with the figures for 2019 before the war, Valery Tkachev, deputy director of the company’s commercial department, said on Wednesday at a meeting on the development of intermodal transportation.
According to him, before Russia’s full-scale invasion, UZ’s container transportation had been growing by 11-22% for four years, including 14% in 2021, but after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, it fell by 46% to 150 thousand TEUs.
“If in 2021 we already reached 279,792 thousand TEU, in 2022 we fell to 150 thousand TEU, that is, 46%,” Tkachev emphasized.
He noted that the rapid recovery of container transportation in 2023 was due to the blocking of Ukrainian seaports.
“If you look at the traffic, 62% of all container transportation is export, 19% is domestic transportation, and 19% is import,” he described the market.
The UZ representative added that grain is the most popular containerized cargo, accounting for 49%. Ferrous metals are in second place (17%), followed by oil cake (14%) and oil (10%).
Tkachev emphasized that the 2023 figures, although positive, are significantly lower than those set out in the development strategy of Ukrzaliznytsia, which provided for the transportation of more than 1 million TEUs per year.
He reminded that in March 2023, UZ launched the intermodal train service, and almost 200 trains were sent.
At the same time, the deputy director of the commercial work department noted that after testing the counter-rail transportation to Poland in December 2023, problems with tariffication arose.
“We are still receiving invoices from the Polish side. There was an agreement on a comprehensive rate, but for some reason the Polish colleagues continue to adjust it, so we are now working with the Polish side to get a single comprehensive rate for this service, and then we will be able to work more rhythmically and transport container trains,” added Tkachev.
