The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is undergoing certification, and a decision on the involvement of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine in the certification process will be made next week, Head of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSOU) Serhiy Makohon has said.
“A decision [on the involvement of GTS Operator of Ukraine in the certification process] is expected to be made next week,” Makohon said on Facebook.
On November 4, 2021, a unique, in the context of Ukraine, event took place at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, dedicated to the creation of a new and unified platform I-Dolina, which is designed to unite the creative industry of our state.
The event was organized by the International Technology Transfer Association represented by its head Artem Honcharenko.
Special attention was drawn to its speakers, namely:
– Oleh Sytnyk – representative of the Information Committee of the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce;
– Ge Jian, Chief Representative of G-Global International Secretariat in China;
– Rostyslav Nakonechny – deputy chairman of the board of IBOX Bank;
– Nadiya Vasilyeva – director of the Digital Transformation Institute, Ph.D. in Economics, ex-CEO of Microsoft Ukraine;
– Andriy Zavadovsky – Principal Engineer, Office of CTO Security at Cisco;
– Svitlana Oleinykova – fundraising expert, managing partner of Synergy Universe group of companies – the first fundraising ecosystem in Ukraine;
– Den Tolmor – producer and writer, Oscar and Emmy nominations;
– Dmytro Kolesnikov – chairman of ARMA Ukraine, founder of UNI.UA;
– Iryna Polischuk – director of Kyiv Junior Academy of Sciences of student youth, candidate of chemical sciences;
– Oleksandr Pavlov – chairman of the board of the Ukraine-Israel Business Council;
– Oleksandr Tepliuk – member of the supervisory board of the International Technology Transfer Association.
Each speaker is not just a specialist in his field, but first of all a person who helps move and develop the creative industry, both in Ukraine and abroad.
Today in Ukraine there are already more than 200,000 specialists directly or indirectly related to the IT industry, and also, as Artem Honcharenko specified, more than a million people are involved in the entire creative industry, which is a huge number in the context of our country.
The IT cluster of specialists, already occupying its niche in the economy of our country, accounts for more than 4% of the GDP, and brings billions of dollars in revenues. However, at the state level there is little legislative and infrastructural support.
And therefore, self-organization, the creation of a single, independent platform can become a new driving mechanism that will accelerate the process of formation and development of the entire creative community of our state.
Each speaker expressed not only his vision of the future of this industry, but also supported the initiative to create a platform as a new unique tool.
Grant support, support for startups, copyrights, cooperation with foreign enterprises and organizations, as well as the creation of infrastructure facilities are just part of what the residents of the I-Dolina platform can soon receive.
Already this year, according to Artem Honcharenko, the founder of I-Dolina, for the first time in Ukraine, a competition will be held among developers, architects and building educational institutions for the Best Developer for the Creative Industry, the Best Architectural Project for the Creative Industry and the Best Educational Institution for the Creative Industry.
Next year, a joint event is planned with the Junior Academy of Sciences, where issues of monetization of science based on the new I-Dolina platform will be discussed, which will provide an additional incentive for young scientists and inventors.
A special place on the I-Dolina platform is given to cooperation with the educational institutions with which memorandums of cooperation have already been signed, namely Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Ternopil Puluj National Technical University, etc.
Also, agreements and memorandums will be signed with international companies and organizations, which will allow the development of the creative industry on the territory of the country, creating the best infrastructure facilities and conditions to stop the huge outflow of personnel from the country.
This measure, according to the participants and organizers, to create I-Dolina will be the first significant step, not only to unite representatives of the creative industry, but also to shape the industry as one of the most influential economic players, which is already influencing the formation of the future of Ukraine.
Particular thanks go to the speakers from the United States, Israel and China, who have already expressed their desire to cooperate on many projects. These countries are not only leaders in the development of technologies, but those who set them as the basis for the future of their countries.
Ukraine is among the five bidders for hosting the final tournament of the 2025 UEFA Women’s Championship, according to the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF).
According to the UAF, UEFA has received five declarations of interest representing eight member associations to host the 2025 women’s Euros.
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have applied to stage the event jointly whilst France, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine have shown interest in going for it individually.
The bidding for the final tournament began in July 2021. The deadline for the submission of the bid dossiers is October 2022, and the successful bidder will be selected by the UEFA Executive Committee in December 2022.
UEFA has responded to the ever-growing popularity of women’s football by raising the standard for competition in 2025. Bidders are recommended to present eight Category 4 stadiums, with a variety of capacities ranging from 15,000 to 30,000, UEFA said.
Ukraine has experience in hosting the final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the UAF said. In addition, the UAF recently approved a strategy for the development of women’s football in a country that backed by UEFA.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law on ratification of the protocol between the government of Ukraine and the government of the Republic of Belarus on amendments to the agreement between the government of Ukraine and the government of the Republic of Belarus on international road traffic of December 17, 1992 (No. 0060).
The relevant document was supported by 281 MPs.
The Ministry of Infrastructure noted that this law will liberalize the conditions for carrying out freight traffic between Ukraine and Belarus, free irregular passenger road transport from the licensing system, and also unblock the work of Ukrainian road carriers in the Baltic and Scandinavian directions.
“The lack of the required number of permits from Poland and Belarus, additional conditions for transit through Russia led to a situation in which Ukrainian exporters were virtually cut off from the markets of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Only due to the lack of Belarusian permits, the loss of income of carriers in November-December this year should amount to UAH 1 billion. If we also take into account the needs of producers, then the actual losses for the country would be even greater. Today, the parliament defended Ukraine’s national interests in the international freight market and protected Ukrainian exports,” Deputy Infrastructure Minister Mustafa Nayyem is cited on the ministry’s Facebook page.
Transit of natural gas through the gas transmission system (GTS) of Ukraine in January-October 2021 amounted to 35.3 billion cubic meters, which is 21.6% less than in the same period of 2020 (45 billion cubic meters), and 56.7% less than in ten months of 2019 (81.5 billion cubic meters), according the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU).
In particular, in the western direction 32.456 billion cubic meters of gas were supplied by transit (to Slovakia – 22.43 billion cubic meters, to Hungary – 6.799 billion cubic meters, to Poland – 3.227 billion cubic meters); in the south direction – 2.833 billion cubic meters were supplied (to Moldova – 2.439 billion cubic meters, and to Romania – 394 million cubic meters).
In October, transit amounted to 2.634 billion cubic meters, which is 19.1% less than in September due to the cessation of gas supplies to Hungary via the Ukrainian route by Gazprom. In particular, in the direction of Slovakia, transit amounted to 2.117 billion cubic meters, Poland – 342 million cubic meters, and Moldova – 176 million cubic meters.
The GTSOU notes that according to the results of booking the capacities of the Ukrainian GTS on the RBP and GSA platforms for October 2021, Gazprom not only did not book the additional transit capacities, but also significantly reduced the use of the booked annual capacities, since no applications for transit of Russian gas to Hungary were received from October 1.
As a result, the average daily volumes of Russian gas transported through the territory of Ukraine in October fell to 86 million cubic meters, which is below the minimum volume under the current transit agreement (110 million cubic meters).
“We are concerned about the reduction in transit of Russian gas through the Ukrainian route: since October 1, the volume of pumping has been lower than the booked capacity. Although since November 1, transit to Moldova has increased thanks to a new contract for the supply of gas from the Russian Federation, however, the overall use of the Ukrainian GTS capacity for transit of Russian gas continues to decline: on average, at the beginning of November, it was 60 million cubic meters per day,” GTSOU Director General Serhiy Makogon said.
The volume of domestic cement consumption in Ukraine by late 2021 may reach 10 million tonnes for the first time since 2014, Head of the Ukrcement association Pavlo Kachur has said.
“We have production data for nine months, and we can predict with slight optimism that this year, for the first time since 2014, we will move to more than 10 million tonnes of cement consumed in the domestic market. If there are no emergencies, we will reach 10.5 million tonnes,” Kachur said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Ukrcement, in January-September 2021, cement production increased by 15.2% compared to the same period last year. At the same time, over the past four years, the volume of the cement market amounted to 9 million tonnes per year.
“Our market capacity is small. For the last four years, it is up to 9 million tonnes per year. In Poland, comparable in terms of population, which is much smaller geographically, the volume of consumption in 2020 amounted to 18.9 million tonnes – twice as much. Therefore, we have room to grow. Our factories operate at two-thirds of their actual capacity,” Kachur said.
According to him, the increase in cement consumption is associated with a positive period in the construction market, including active road construction.
