From April 24 to May 7, 2024, Sweden will host the European Festival: Ukrainian Spring, which this year will bring together 12 cultural events. Stockholm will host a variety of events that reflect Ukraine’s interaction with the European cultural context in different ways.
The concept of the festival is to present Ukraine as an integral part of the common European cultural heritage. This connection is emphasized by the festival’s slogan: “Reflections in each other’s eyes – Ukraine in Europe and Europe in Ukraine.”
The organizers are convinced that today the ultimate goal of all cultural events dedicated to Ukraine abroad should be to focus public attention on Ukraine’s struggle and victory in the war unleashed by Russia. And the primary task is to once again remind people of the need for increased assistance to protect us from the aggressor.
Therefore, this year, each of the 12 days of the festival will be dedicated to one of the Ukrainian artists who went to defend their country and died at the front.
Ukraine and Slovakia intend to hold a joint Ukrainian-Slovak business forum in the fall of 2024, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“We have invited representatives of Slovak business and government to the Recovery Conference to be held in Berlin in June this year. Based on its results, we plan to organize a joint Ukrainian-Slovak business forum in the fall,” Shmyhal said at a joint briefing with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Thursday.
According to him, the forum will clearly discuss the prospects for investing in the economies of the countries.
The Hungarian government will impose additional restrictions on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine to protect Hungarian farmers, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing a statement by Agriculture Minister István Nagy.
“The European Union’s decision to allow duty-free imports of goods from Ukraine in 2022 to help its economy stay afloat has led to a large oversupply and low prices on the European agricultural market,” Nagy said at a press conference.
Speaking about the planned new measures against Ukrainian products, the minister explained that the restrictions will now also include processed grain products.
He pointed out that officials in Brussels, in Budapest’s view, ultimately failed to protect European farmers who are unable to compete with cheap Ukrainian goods, and noted that this is why Hungary will introduce additional restrictions at the national level.
Last year, Hungary imposed a ban on the import of 24 Ukrainian agricultural products. The ban applies to grain, flour, vegetable oil, some meat products and other goods. Transit was not affected by this measure.
In March, an agreement on the temporary suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian products entered into force in the EU, the agency said.
Business associations under the auspices of the Ukrainian Business Council are asking to finalize the government’s updated draft law on the Economic Security Bureau (#10439), as it leaves unaccounted for important proposals that jeopardize the reboot of the BEB.
“The most critical of the unaccounted proposals is the composition of the competitive commissions for the recertification of personnel and the mechanism for conducting the recertifications,” the 17 associations said in a statement circulated Thursday.
In their opinion, the detailed mechanism of re-certification should be set out in the draft law, and the commissions themselves should have a predominant voice of international experts who have an impeccable reputation and are well versed in the problems of law enforcement agencies.
Among other ignored proposals, the business pointed out the strengthening of the analytical function of the Bureau by providing free access for the BEB to existing state information systems and establishing criteria for the effectiveness of the work of the renewed BEB and their constant monitoring.
In addition, the appeal notes, it is important to limit access to positions in the BEB to persons with a dubious reputation based on the principle of reasonable doubt, given the small number of corruption cases that have resulted in convictions.
It is also crucial to retain in the final version of the draft the right to an overwhelming vote of international experts when electing the chairperson of the OIE, the document says.
In addition, in order to establish safeguards against unlawful pressure on business by law enforcement agencies, simultaneously with the reset of the BEB, the business requires amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding the introduction of standards of prosecutorial activity, limiting the powers of the National Police and the BEB in terms of assigning instructions to SBU operatives, ensuring the possibility of appealing to the investigating judge against any actions or inaction of the investigator, inquirer, prosecutor.
In addition, the business proposes to introduce a ban on reopening proceedings on the same grounds and seizure of material assets not specified in the ruling of the investigating judge, to establish responsible storage and immediate return to the owners of seized property after the decision, to select a reasonable level of bail and interim measures.
Among other requirements – to impose on investigating judges the obligation to verify compliance with the requirements of jurisdiction and to return the terms of pre-trial investigation and the procedure for their extension in actual criminal proceedings, except for serious and especially serious crimes, referred to the jurisdiction of NABU.
At the same time, the associations noted that the updated government bill on the BEB took into account a number of proposals of the business community, in particular, the election of applicants for the post of the head of the Bureau by a commission with a predominant vote of international experts, immediate recertification of all employees of the Bureau and audit one year and three years after the appointment of a new head.
According to the forecast of Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the first deputy of the Rada’s specialized committee, the bill #10439 will be put to a vote in the first reading as early as Thursday.
BILL, BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, ECONOMIC SECURITY BUREAU, UKRAINE, БЕБ
“Corum Druzhkovka Machine-Building Plant (Corum DrMZ), part of the Corum Group (DTEK Energy), has started manufacturing a 200-ton hoist for Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, the plant reported on Facebook.
“Metinvest’s miners have already started preparing a solid and stable foundation on the air supply shaft No. 3 to install the machine,” the statement said.
Installation of the equipment is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.
The plant also reports that in March it produced 34 units of equipment and more than 111 thousand components and spare parts, including trolleys, anchors, fire pipes and high-pressure hoses, under the conditions of relocation. Also, 35 sections of powered roof supports were repaired.
Corum Group is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment in Ukraine and is part of DTEK Energy, the operating company responsible for coal mining and coal-fired power generation within Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK holding.
“Corum DrMZ, relocated to Dnipro in 2022, earned almost UAH 500 million in net profit last year, compared to a loss of UAH 452.8 million a year earlier, while net income increased 2.7 times to UAH 1 billion 530 million.
“Metinvest comprises mining and metallurgical enterprises located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States. Its main shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
In January-March 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) increased export transportation to ports by 2.4 times compared to the same period in 2023 – up to 15.347 million tons, while reducing the volume of transportation through land crossings in export traffic by 11.9% to 8.041 million tons, according to an analytical note of the company following the meeting of the Exporters’ Office.
In total, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 44.69 million tons of cargo in the first quarter of this year, which is 28.7% more than in the first quarter of 2023. Export transportation accounted for 52.3%, or 23.9 million tons, up 50.6% year-on-year.
In January-March, the company’s export transportation volume of iron and manganese ore increased 2.4 times year-on-year to 9.89 million tons, grain cargo – by 18.4% to 9.9 million tons, and ferrous metals – by 13% to 1.19 million tons.
In addition, the volume of vegetable oil transportation in export traffic in January-March increased by 7.5% to 424.2 thousand tons, construction materials – by 1.8 times to 545 thousand tons, cement – by 49.2% to 277.8 thousand tons.
Earlier, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Vice Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Reconstruction), said that in March 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 16 million tons of cargo in all directions, which is a third more than in March 2023 and 10% more than the record figures for February 2024, when the volume of traffic reached 14.5 million tons.
