Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok will together visit Ukraine on February 7-8 on the invitation of their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
The first ever visit by the foreign ministers of the Slavkov or Austerlitz format to Kyiv is to demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s press service said in a statement.
Kuleba and his Czech, Slovak and Austrian counterparts will hold talks with key agenda items such as “further support for Ukraine in countering Russian aggression, the implementation of a comprehensive containment package for the Russian Federation, strengthening security cooperation, supporting the economic and financial stability of our state,” it said.
The Slavkov format ministers are also planning to visit the zone of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation to familiarize themselves with the current situation, Kyiv said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 07/02/22
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of February 07
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January 2022 grew by 18.8% compared to the same period in 2021, to $.22 billion with an increase in exports by 53%, to $6.03 billion, and imports by almost 49%, to $6.25 billion, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
Thus, the trade turnover of Ukraine in January rose by 51% compared to January 2021 and reached $12.28 billion.
As reported, in 2021, the deficit of foreign trade in goods amounted to $5.1 billion compared to $4.72 billion in 2020. Import of goods at the end of the year increased by 35.6% compared to 2020, to $73.3 billion, export by 38.3% to $68.2 billion.
Until 2030, Ukraine will increase the harvest and production of the main types of agricultural raw materials, which will allow the country to consolidate the status of a constantly growing producer and exporter of grains, oilseeds and sunflower oil, while a reduction is expected in production of sugar, milk and beef, the Ukrainian Agriculture Export Association (UAEA) reported.
As the UAEA told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday, the relevant data are contained in a joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which compares the average annual production of the main types of agricultural products for 2018-2022 with projections in 2030.
Thus, the growth of the corn crop in Ukraine is projected from 33.99 million tonnes to 44.01 million tonnes (29.4% more), wheat – from 26.01 million tonnes to 35.86 million tonnes (37.8% more), and oilseeds – from 22.04 million tonnes to 26.29 million tonnes (19.3% more).
During the specified period, an increase in production of vegetable oil is also expected from 6.88 million tonnes to 8.4 million tonnes (22.1% more), poultry meat – from 1.15 million tonnes to 1.54 million tonnes (33.9% more), pork – from 0.71 million tonnes to 0.82 million tonnes (15.5% more), and fish and seafood – from 99,000 tonnes to 101,000 tonnes (2% more).
At the same time, Ukraine is projected to reduce milk production from 9.82 million tonnes to 8.93 million tonnes (9.1% less), sugar – from 1.38 million tonnes to 1.24 million tonnes (10.1% less) and beef – from 0.37 million tonnes to 0.33 million tonnes (10.8% less).
“The current forecasts of international organizations almost always consider Ukraine as a constantly growing producer and exporter of grains, oilseeds and sunflower oil, that is, our status as a supplier of raw materials to the world market will be strengthened,” the association summed up.
