An exclusive interview of Interfax-Ukraine and Ukraine in Arabic with Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Ukraine Mohammed bin Suleiman al-Mashar
Text by:
Mohammad Farajallah (editor-in-chief of the agency Ukraine in Arabic)
Maksim Urakin (Interfax-Ukraine)
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Kyiv on a surprise visit, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials, and agreed on a previously announced aid package. Are there any changes in Riyadh’s position on the war in Ukraine, especially since the Kingdom has been criticized for siding with Russia in the war against Ukraine?
Under the guidance of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – God bless him – and under the guidance of His Royal Highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz – God bless him – the Kingdom is eager to provide humanitarian and emergency assistance to countries affected by natural or humanitarian disasters, and to provide support to all countries and peoples without discrimination or any other motives, based on the awareness of Saudi Arabia of the importance of its humanitarian role at the international level.
His Highness the Crown Prince pays great attention to the implementation of humanitarian efforts along with political efforts with various countries to achieve a peaceful solution to end the Russian-Ukrainian war as part of His Highness’s desire to achieve regional and global security, peace and stability.
Your Excellency, is a position of neutrality considered positive in such crises? What role can neutral states play?
The neutral and balanced position of Saudi Arabia in the Russian-Ukrainian war contributed to the success of the mediation led by His Highness the Crown Prince on purely humanitarian principles, which led to the release of ten foreign captives – citizens of the Kingdom of Morocco, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the Republic of Croatia, who were held captive by the armed forces of Russia.
In October 2022, the Kingdom announced a humanitarian aid package for Ukraine, which is in line with Saudi Arabia’s position in supporting countries and peoples that are prone to various crises. What role does Saudi Arabia play in the world in humanitarian matters?
The Kingdom’s $400 million humanitarian aid initiative for Ukraine, including power generators and medical supplies, is significant in light of the humanitarian conditions facing the Ukrainian people, especially during the harsh winter.
Previously, the Kingdom provided through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, the World Health Organization and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees $10 million worth of medical assistance and shelter materials intended for Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has provided over $96 billion worth of humanitarian aid to 156 countries.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always been among the top ten countries in the world for aid, and in 2021, the Kingdom ranked third in the world for humanitarian aid.
Your Excellency, may I ask what the Kingdom provided to the citizens of Ukraine who were on its territory during the war?
After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the competent authorities in the Kingdom, by royal decrees and for humanitarian reasons, took the initiative to extend the visas of Ukrainian tourists, businessmen and families in the Kingdom for a period of three months with the possibility of extending them without charging any fees or fines.
His Highness the Crown Prince, Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman held a telephone conversation with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in October 2022 and reaffirmed the Kingdom’s position in support of everything that contributes to de-escalation and the country’s readiness to continue mediation efforts. Can we rely on foreign mediation to end the war in Ukraine?
Since the beginning of the war, the Kingdom has taken a balanced position regarding the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. It was welcomed by both countries, which have strong relations with Saudi Arabia in several areas. The Crown Prince seeks to use this relationship to reach a peaceful solution to the war.
Since the beginning of the crisis, His Highness has been mediating efforts between the two countries to reach a political solution to end the war as his contribution to maintaining international security and stability. Saudi Arabia supports international efforts to reduce tensions and escalation between Russia and Ukraine, as well as to initiate measures to ensure the restoration of stability and create conditions for negotiations leading to a peaceful and political solution to the crisis based on the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law.
Saudi Arabia was among 141 countries that voted in favor of a UN resolution to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine. Can this position affect relations between Riyadh and Moscow?
The position of the Kingdom and its vote in support of the United Nations resolutions adopted regarding the Ukrainian crisis stems from the commitment to the need for all countries to comply with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law and our complete rejection of any violation of the sovereignty of all countries. The Kingdom declared a clear position on the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, based on the principles of international law. It reaffirmed its support for all efforts aimed at resolving the Ukrainian crisis through dialogue and diplomacy, as well as continuing to work on the implementation of the agreements concluded between the parties concerned and approved by the Security Council in Resolution 2202 on regional security and conflict settlement in eastern Ukraine.
The visit to Kyiv of His Highness the Minister of Foreign Affairs was called historical. Do you agree with this characterization?
The visit of His Highness Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to Kyiv and his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is considered historic. On the one hand, this is the first visit of an Arab foreign minister to Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and on the other hand, the first visit of a Saudi Arabian foreign minister to Ukraine since the beginning of diplomatic relations between the two countries over thirty years ago.
His Excellency the President of Ukraine justifiably called it historic. In fact, we are very grateful to His Excellency for all his friendly statements about Saudi Arabia. I also hope that this visit will give a new impetus to intensify our mutual dialogue in order to develop bilateral relations.
Can you tell us the details of communication and negotiation?
Support by the Kingdom of everything that contributes to de-escalation, protection of civilians, a serious search for political solutions through negotiations, support for all international efforts aimed at resolving the political crisis, as well as opportunities for expanding cooperation between the two friendly countries and ways to support and develop them in many areas. In addition, we discussed the development of the situation in the regional and international arenas.
Can you tell us about the content of the agreements signed during the visit?
During the visit of His Highness Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, two documents were signed in the President’s Office of Ukraine as documentation of the package of Saudi Arabian assistance to Ukraine in the humanitarian sphere, the decision to allocate a separate support package in the amount of $400 million.
Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre Abdullah Al Rabeeah and Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine and Minister of Communities, Regions and Infrastructure Development Oleksandr Kubrakov signed a joint program of cooperation between the Ministry of Communities, Regions and Infrastructure Development the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre in the amount of $100 million. CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad and Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding a $300 million Saudi grant to finance oil derivatives.
The US dollar rate was almost unchanged against the euro and the pound sterling on Friday morning, but demonstrated an active rise in pair with the yen on the results of the Bank of Japan meeting.
The ICE-calculated index showing the U.S. dollar’s performance against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona) was down less than 0.1% during this morning’s session. The broader WSJ Dollar Index was up less than 0.1%.
The euro/dollar pair is trading at $1.0589 as of 8:00 a.m., versus $1.0585 at the close of Thursday’s session.
The pound sterling is trading at $1.1925 versus $1.1924 at the close of last session.
Foreign exchange market participants took a wait-and-see attitude ahead of Friday’s publication of statistical data on the U.S. labor market.
The Labor Department report will be released at 3:30 p.m. and analysts polled by Trading Economics expect it to show the unemployment rate will remain at 3.4 percent and the number of jobs in the U.S. economy will climb by 205,000.
Strong labor market data could be an important argument for the Fed to raise interest rates by 50 basis points at the March meeting. The market generally expects just such a scenario, although last week’s consensus forecasts called for a hike of just 25 bps.
Meanwhile, the dollar-yen exchange rate rose 0.4% to 136.65 yen against 136.14 yen the day before.
On Friday, the Bank of Japan expectedly didn’t change the main parameters of the monetary policy on the results of the meeting, which was the last for the head of the central bank Haruhiko Kuroda who heads the bank since 2013.
Japan’s parliament this week approved Kazuo Ueda as the next head of the central bank. He will lead the Bank of Japan on April 8, when Kuroda’s term expires. The next meeting will be held under his leadership on April 27-28.
Oil prices are declining Friday morning, falling for the fourth consecutive session on fears of too aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
Brent May futures on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $81.14 a barrel by 7:17 a.m., down $0.45 (0.55%) from the previous session’s close. Those contracts fell by $1.07 (1.3%) to $81.59 per barrel at the close of trading on Thursday.
The price of WTI crude futures for April at electronic trades of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $75.12 per barrel by that time, which is $0.6 (0.79%) lower than the final value of the previous session. The contract fell by $0.94 (1.2%) to $75.72 per barrel on Thursday.
The main negative factor for the oil market this week was Fed President Jerome Powell’s “hawkish” comments admitting a possibility of hiking interest rates. Investors fear that the Fed’s tough policy may lead to a recession in the U.S., which in turn will affect demand for fuel in the world’s largest economy.
“Oil is under pressure again because of fears of Fed rate hikes,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
On Friday, the U.S. labor market report for February will be released, which could influence the opinion of U.S. central bank governors. Analysts polled by Trading Economics predict it will point to maintaining unemployment at 3.4% and an increase of 205,000 jobs in the U.S. economy.
Changes in revenue of consolidated budget in 2014-2022 (%)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
ProWein 2023, the world’s #1 wine and spirits trade fair which is due to open its doors again in Düsseldorf on March 19-21, 2023, will be greeting 10 Ukrainian wineries presenting their products under the Wines of Ukraine umbrella.
This is not the first time that Ukrainian wineries will be participating in ProWein. However, this year the Ukrainian Association of Craft Winemakers, which is also the initiator and the founder of Wines of Ukraine, will give a bigger picture of Ukrainian winemaking to the visitors of the famous fair.
Ukrainian Association of Craft Winemakers was established in 2021 in order to coordinate and develop Ukrainian winemaking industry, as well as to enhance the competitiveness of Ukrainian wines internationally, and to promote the brand of Wines of Ukraine.
In times of war, the Association also focuses on helping to rebuild destroyed wineries and on demining the vineyards liberated from russian occupation. Currently, the Association includes 72 manufacturers.
“Our mission is to actively develop the Wines of Ukraine brand,” says Svitlana Tsybak, Wines of Ukraine representative, head of the Association of Craft Winemakers of Ukraine and Beykush Winery’s Development Director, “The attention that Ukraine is getting all over the world these days is extraordinary. We have to spread the word that, despite the war, life goes on here, we continue to grow grapes and produce our wines that have already been recognized by the world. We are happy to do our job, to work for our Victory.”
The Wines of Ukraine stand at ProWein will present 10 wineries:
Beykush Winery (Mykolayiv region)
Father’s Wine VB (Ternopil region)
Prince Trubetskoi Winery (Kherson region)
Chateau Chizay (Transcarpathian region)
Stakhovsky Wines (Transcarpathian region)
Biologist Craft Winery (Kyiv region)
Kolonist Winery (Odesa region / Southern Bessarabia)
Villa Tinta (Odesa region / Southern Bessarabia)
My Wine by Eduard Gorodetsky (Odesa region)
46 Parallel Wine Group (Odessa region).
Ukrainian winemakers are dealing with the horrors and challenges of russian aggression every day. Some wineries have suffered more than others. Prince Trubetskoy Winery, a historic chateau located in Kherson region, survived the Russian occupation. The winery’s owners managed to retain their staff, but even now, after the de-occupation, it is not clear what happened to the production facilities, ancient wine cellars, a restaurant and hotel complex. It is still impossible to get there because the chateau is located in the territory suffering from daily shelling and missile attacks. Some of the vineyards have not yet been de-mined. Despite the challenges, Prince Trubetskoy Winery is participating in ProWein 2023.
The international wine community already knows a few things about Ukrainian winemaking, considering Ukraine a “young” wine region. However, from a historical point of view, the traditions of winemaking in Ukraine have existed for several millennia.
“Our main goal is to place Ukraine back on the world map of winemaking, which has existed in Ukraine since the time of Trypillian culture (7 thousand years ago). It reached its peak between the 7th and 1st centuries BC. We have a variety of terroirs, dozens of local grape varieties, and most importantly, a new generation of winemakers who have revised the experience of their ancestors, linked it to modern trends, and are ready to present a new history of Ukrainian winemaking to the world,” says Sergey Klimov, a representative of the Wines of Ukraine, founder of the Kyiv Food and Wine Festival, ideologist and co-owner of Like a Local’s wine bar.
“We are very happy that Ukraine has this amazing opportunity to present its wines to a selected audience of wine professionals from all over the world”, shares her thoughts Victoria Agromakova, the Wines of Ukraine representative and founder of Wine&Spirits Ukraine expo. “Ukrainian wines deserve recognition and admiration, and our job is to spread the word and to grow our international business. We do appreciate the worldwide support that Ukraine and its people are getting. Helping Ukraine is a trend, and ProWein is not an exception. We are very grateful to the Ukrainian Consulate in Dusseldorf for their help and attention, and to our partners, the USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine, for their valuable input and faith in Ukrainian winemaking.”
“Ukrainian businesses are facing many new challenges these days: they are losing production facilities, their sales are dropping, some of them have to move to safer areas. That is why helping them to restore and develop their business during the war is one of our top priorities. We support the Ukrainian winemakers participating in ProWein because we see our common goal here: to help improve the business environment in Ukraine and stimulate Ukrainian exports,” said Olesya Zaluska, Head of USAID Competitive Economy Program. “We love Ukrainian wines, appreciate the skills and resilience of Ukrainian winemakers, and believe in their successful international future. Let’s make it happen.”
When: March 19-21, 2023.
Where: Messe Düsseldorf, Stockumer Kirchstraße 61, 40474 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Wines of Ukraine stand: Hall 12 / A03.
Pls check this link to see exhibitors’ profiles.
Background info
Winemaking in Ukraine has been historically predetermined: it has an advantageous geographical location, and its climate favours grape growing. The origins of winemaking in Ukraine date back to the 4th century BC (in Crimea), going 2500 years back in the Black Sea Region up to the 14th century in Zakarpattya (Transcarpathia).
The continental climate is characterised by hot summers and severe winters. In 2021, over 100 million litres of wine were produced from 40 thousand hectares of vineyards. Almost 180 grape varieties are cultivated, including the majority of indigenous or varieties grown here.
Ukraine’s most famous indigenous variety is Telti-Kuruk, a white grape grown in Odesa region in the south. Another signature variety is a red Odesa Black, originating from Alicante Henri Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Security Service of Ukraine reports the arrest of former Antonov general director Serhiy Bychkov and head of the aviation security unit Oleksandr Netesov in the Mriya destruction case, while former deputy general director Mikhail Kharchenko has been put on the wanted list.
In a telegraph channel on Friday, the Ukrainian security service said it had gathered a solid evidence base on the former Antonov general director, his deputy and the head of the aviation security unit.
“According to the materials of the investigation, on the eve of a full-scale invasion, the officials did not allow members of the National Guard of Ukraine to enter the territory of the Gostomel airport to prepare for its protection. Such criminal actions led to the temporary seizure of a strategically important airfield, surrounding settlements and the destruction of the AN-225 Mriya aircraft,” the report stresses.
The SBU claims that during January-February 2022, officials explicitly prohibited the Ukrainian military to erect defensive fortifications and fortifications at the airfield, for this purpose an order was given to block the access of the National Guard fighters to the territory of the facility.
Based on the collected evidence, investigators of the Main Investigative Directorate of the SBU reported all three defendants on suspicion under Part 2 of Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstruction of the legitimate activities of the AFU and other military formations in a special period, resulting in the death of people and other grave consequences).
“Two persons involved in the proceedings were selected a measure of restraint in the form of detention. Comprehensive measures are taken to bring to justice the former deputy director general of the SE “Antonov”, who is now hiding from justice. He is wanted,” the SBU informs.
“We are conducting an objective investigation of this case. Those who actually helped the enemy to destroy one of the symbols of Ukraine should suffer the deserved punishment. And the SBU will do everything necessary for this. And our state will definitely build a new plane, because the Mriya, just like Ukraine, cannot be destroyed,” the head of SBU Vasyl Malyuk said in the message of the special service.
As a law enforcement source clarified to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kharchenko, a wanted former deputy director of Antonov, is probably now in Crimea.
