The Uzbek authorities intend to conclude negotiations on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the near future, the press service for the Uzbek Investments and Foreign Trade Ministry said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Investments and Foreign Trade Minister Sardor Umurzakov spoke at the latest meeting of the working group on Uzbekistan joining the WTO, its fifth, in Geneva.
“The head of the Uzbek delegation confirmed firm determination to actively promote the process of the republic joining the WTO and concluding bilateral negotiations with all interested member states of the organization in the near future,” the press service said.
The working group has begun detailed discussion of the documents presented on Uzbekistan’s foreign trade conditions, including a fact-based digest, answers to the questions of member states, information on economic policy, measures implemented to privatize government assets, customs and tariff policy, state support for agriculture, and industrial subsidies, it said.
All 25 WTO member states speaking unanimously declared their full support for Uzbekistan’s entry into the organization, emphasizing that this will allow the republic to integrate into the multilateral trade system in full and give impetus for the further development of its trade-economic ties with all member countries.
“The results of the activities carried out by the interagency commission on work with the WTO within the framework of the process of Uzbekistan’s accession to the organization, including in the array of preparations for an expanded package of documents and bilateral talks on access to the country’s market, were given a positive assessment,” the press service said.
The Uzbek delegation is also holding a number of bilateral negotiations in Geneva on access to the goods and services market with the United States, the European Union, Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, and other key WTO member states.
The British consulting company Skytrax has presented the winners of The World’s Best Airports in 2022 rating according to the results of a passenger survey, Boryspil International Airport took the seventh place.
According to a report on the airport’s website on Wednesday, the top ten included the airports of Batumi, Budapest, Tallinn, Bucharest, Riga, Tbilisi, Boryspil International Airport, as well as Belgrade, Bratislava and Zagreb airports.
In 2021, Boryspil ranked fifth in the Skytrax rating.
“The fact that Boryspil International Airport was ranked among the top ten airports demonstrates its standards of work with passengers to ensure their comfort and safety. The war suddenly suspended the operation of the airport. But nothing will change our confidence in the victory of Ukraine, its peaceful and independent development. I believe in the future of the main air gates of the country – Boryspil International Airport,” Oleksiy Dubrevsky, CEO of the airport, is quoted in the message.
Skytrax is a British consulting company that has been evaluating the quality of service for airports and airlines around the world since 1989.
The World Airport Awards are presented based on a survey of more than 13 million passengers at 550 airports around the world.
Cardboard and Paper Company LLC (Lviv), a major Ukrainian manufacturer of cardboard tubes and sanitary and hygienic products, increased production by 43.3% in January-May compared to the same period in 2021 – to UAH 403.7 million.
According to the statistics of the UkrPapir association provided to the Interfax-Ukraine agency, in natural terms, over this period, the company increased the production of paper – the basis for sanitary and hygienic products – by 16.1%, to 26.4 million tonnes, while increasing the production of toilet paper in rolls by 66.4% – to 1.8 million pieces.
At the same time, the output of cardboard products decreased by 4.8% – to 10.43 million tonnes.
According to the statistics of UkrPapir, the factory continued to work all months since the beginning of the year, reducing the production of paper and cardboard in March, but in April and May it already increased their production by 16.4% and 6.7%, respectively (compared to the same months last year).
Cardboard and Paper Company (until 2011 – Lvivkartonoplast) produces goods and semi-finished products from recycled cardboard (cardboard sheets, corners, tubes) and cellulose paper (toilet paper, towels, napkins of White Line and Papero trademarks).
In 2021, the company produced products worth UAH 782.7 million, which is 46.7% more than in 2020.
Italy will continue to raise funds to restore the city of Bucha in Kyiv region, which suffered from Russian occupiers, Mayor of Bergamo (Italy) Giorgio Gori said during a meeting with Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko and Managing Director of the Rothschild international banking group for the CIS region Giovanni Salvetti.
As the Ministry of Finance pointed out in a press release on the website on Wednesday following the meeting, in April 2022, the Italian humanitarian organization Cesvi, headquartered in Bergamo, allocated the first EUR 500 million for the restoration of Bucha, and Gori confirmed its readiness to raise funds in the future.
The mayor of the Italian city noted that the amount of financial support for the restoration of the communal infrastructure and social facilities of Bucha will be increased through charitable contributions from private and public donors, in particular from the municipality of the city of Bergamo.
“Today, the amount of infrastructure damage reaches $104 billion, but the war is not over yet. Now, even after the victory, a difficult path for the restoration of Ukraine awaits us,” the Minister of Finance of Ukraine said in turn, quoted by the ministry’s press service.
Priority areas for the recovery of Bucha are the restoration of destroyed infrastructure, housing, refurbishment of fleets of special equipment, including ambulances, fire engines and public transport, the ministry added.
American Zoom Video Communications for the 2022-2023 academic year will provide free access to Zoom Meetings for Education software.
“This is very important during the war, when all education takes place online. Now some students are defending their theses in the trenches, protecting the state, and teachers are conducting lessons for schoolchildren directly from bomb shelters,” wrote Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Education and Science, in a letter to educational institutions published on the Osvita.ua portal, said that the extended access of Large Meeting allows participants in the educational process to record meetings, as well as conduct training sessions for 1000 participants at the same time.
Also, according to the Ministry of Education, educational institutions that have applied for advanced features of Google Workspace for Education will receive the corresponding update until August 2022.
The status of a candidate member of the European Union will give impetus to a new trajectory of Ukraine’s GDP growth and a positive signal to investors, Andriy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC), believes.
“The EU candidate status will kick-start a new GDP growth trajectory, while at the same time providing huge morale for post-war economic transformation and reform implementation. Such a move sends a positive signal to investors that Ukraine is moving in the right direction,” he said in a comment to the agency. Interfax-Ukraine.
“There is no future for transparent business in Russia. At the same time, companies will see Ukraine as a priority for post-war investment,” Gunder said.
He also expressed confidence that with a positive decision on such a status by the EU members, Ukraine will make every effort to implement all the necessary reforms as soon as possible. In particular, to introduce real and effective judicial reform, the rule of law, fair justice and the establishment of a level playing field for business.
“We will see a comprehensive approach to creating a strong state and a competitive economy,” Andrei Gunder stressed.
“The message on the status of Ukraine’s candidate for membership in the European Union is clear – Ukraine is returning home. Ukraine is returning to the European family of peoples, the values it shares, and, once and for all, is moving away from the yoke of Russia’s cruel suffocation,” he said.
Acceleration of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union by approximating national legislation in the field of competition, customs, healthcare, protection of intellectual property rights, media, etc. to EU legislation is one of the key priorities for member companies of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine for the post-war economic recovery of Ukraine, added the ACC President.
