80 states and four organizations supported the final communiqué of the Global Peace Summit held in Switzerland, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said.
“This means commitment to the sovereignty of our state, the need for the operation of the ZNPP under the full control of Ukraine, the inadmissibility of attacks on merchant ships in the seas washing Ukraine, a call for the repatriation of prisoners according to the “all for all” formula and the unconditional return of Ukrainian children!”, Lubinets wrote in Telegram on Sunday.
According to the Internet edition “20 minuten”, the communiqué was not signed by representatives of 13 countries: Armenia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Vatican, India, Indonesia, Libya, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and the Vatican.
According to Reuters, the preliminary text of the summit communiqué on Ukraine recorded the agreement of the summit participants on such 3 aspects.
In particular, it is necessary to ensure safety in the use of nuclear energy – including at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which should operate in accordance with IAEA requirements and under its supervision.
It is also necessary to guarantee the safety of commercial shipping in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Attacks on merchant ships and civilian commercial ports are unacceptable and food security should not be used for military purposes.
Third, all prisoners of war should be released through an all-for-all exchange, and all deported Ukrainian children and adult civilians should return home.
In addition, the summit believes that “achieving peace requires participation and dialog between all parties”; therefore, it is decided to “take concrete steps in the above-mentioned areas in the future, with further participation of representatives of all parties.”
“The UN Charter, including the principles of respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states, can and will serve as the basis for achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” the draft communiqué of the summit reads.
As reported, 101 participants, including eight international organizations, were represented at the Peace Summit in Switzerland.
Norway said it has already decided that 120 million kroner out of 1.1 billion kroner will be used for repairs in Kharkiv region, which has been particularly hard hit by Russian attacks recently.
Norway will provide 1.1 billion kroner ($103 million) to Ukraine to repair the country’s energy infrastructure and ensure the country’s power supply before next winter, the country announced on Sunday, June 16. “Russia is conducting massive, systematic attacks to paralyze the energy system, but Ukrainians are working day and night to provide electricity to the population,” Prime Minister Jonas Gara Storé said in a statement.
According to new estimates, more than 50% of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been destroyed, the government said. “We are in close dialog with Ukraine on how it can make the most efficient use of these funds. The Ukrainians themselves understand what is needed best,” Støre said, adding that it is important to start repairing the infrastructure before the onset of winter.
Norway said that it has already decided that 120 million kroner will be spent on repairs in the Kharkiv region, which has been particularly hard hit by Russian attacks recently. The solar panels will be installed in seven maternity hospitals and operating rooms in the Kharkiv region, Støre said in a statement released during his participation in the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland.
Norway has allocated 2.1 billion kroner to the Ukrainian energy sector in 2022, and 1.9 billion kroner last year. The Scandinavian country has pledged 75 billion kroner in military and civilian aid to Ukraine for the five-year period 2023-2027, with funds to be allocated each year according to Ukraine’s needs.
In Ukraine on Sunday, June 16, is expected to worsen weather conditions, reports Ukrhydrometcenter.
“In most southern, central and Kharkiv regions heavy rains, in the afternoon in some areas hail and squalls 15-20 m/s (I level of danger, yellow),” – stated in the message.
This Sunday, almost a billion Muslims around the world celebrate the main Islamic holiday – the Day of Sacrifice, also known as Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.
Every Muslim who has the means to do so is obliged to sacrifice an animal, and one person can limit himself to a sheep, while one head of cattle is enough for a group of up to ten adherents of Islam. In this case, the animal must be young enough and without physical defects. Two-thirds of the victim’s meat should be distributed to the poor, and the rest goes to the family’s festive meal.
The sacrifice is performed by Muslims in memory of how the Prophet Ibrahim was ready to sacrifice his son Ismail to the Almighty to prove his devotion to God. However, the Almighty, having tested Ibrahim, stopped the hand raised over his son and sent Ibrahim a white lamb, which was sacrificed.
During Eid al-Adha, it is customary to wear the best clothes, visit friends, give gifts, and visit the graves of loved ones.
In Saudi Arabia, the sacrifice holiday is the culmination of the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy sites of Mecca and Medina. This year, more than 1.5 million believers gathered there.
Sotheby’s will hold the largest ever auction of luxury champagne next week, the Financial Times reports.
The auction house will put up for auction in Paris about 1.5 thousand bottles of vintage champagne from the collection of Taiwanese billionaire Pierre Chen.
Among the rarities will be a lot of five bottles of Salon Le Mesnil, Blanc de Blancs 1971, estimated at 18 thousand euros. Bidders will also be able to compete for champagne from leading brands, including Krug, Dom Perignon, Salon and Roederer, including those from the 1950s.
This is the second of five international auctions to sell 25 thousand bottles of Chen’s wines. The first one took place last November in Hong Kong and brought in $16.8 million.
Profitability of the main types of agricultural crops has been steadily improving since 2023, but the production of cereals has not yet reached break-even, and the profitability of oilseeds remains minimal, in 2024 the profitability of oilseeds will be higher than previously predicted, and the production of cereals will remain unprofitable. The corresponding forecast is contained in the study of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB).
“The improvement in the level of profitability compared to the previous period is due to the restoration of export sea routes. This reduced the cost of logistics and allowed to increase purchase prices in the domestic market, even despite the decline in world prices for all types of grains and oilseeds,” the analysts said.
According to their information, over the past six months, prices at elevators have increased by 38% for grain crops and 14% for oilseeds compared to the same period last year. Prices in Ukrainian ports have also increased, but not so significantly, as the cost of logistics remains quite high. At the same time, purchase prices in the Ukrainian market are still far behind the world market.
Since the beginning of 2024, the structure of export routes has changed. Logistics of agro-products through the Danube river ports played an important role for Ukraine when the deep-water ports of Odessa did not work. But today the potential of the Danube export route is not fully utilized due to the higher cost of logistics in this direction compared to the deep-water ports of Odessa, the experts reminded.
The trend towards lower average fertilizer application rates in the industry continues. Although an increase in fertilizer application rates for winter crops was recorded in the autumn of 2023, in the spring of 2024 application rates decreased again – on average by 5% compared to the same period last year. The main reasons for the decrease in fertilizer application rates are the lack of working capital and rising cost of fertilizers due to changes in the Customs Code and the general situation of uncertainty in the industry due to the war.
Analysts noted that large producers practically did not reduce fertilizer application rates, while small farmers were forced to reduce them by an average of 10-15%. Application rates of plant protection products remained at the same level, because a reduction in the use of crop protection products can lead to deterioration in yields and quality of grain and oilseed crops.
According to the results of 2024, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and UCAB forecast a higher level of profitability of crop production compared to the previous forecast. Sunflower profitability is expected at $45/t (-$4/t in 2023), soybeans at $83/t ($69), and rapeseed at $78/t ($5/t). Grain production, on the other hand, will remain unprofitable.
“The results of crop production this year will be most influenced by such factors as reduction of fertilizer application rates and, as a consequence, a slight decrease in yields, as well as reducing the cost of export logistics, reducing the price gap between prices at elevators and Ukrainian ports due to the establishment of export shipments, which will contribute to a more active recovery of domestic purchase prices”, – stated analysts.
