Ukraine and Bulgaria have agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of road transportation.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, following a meeting of the mixed commission on international road transportation of goods and passengers, the parties agreed that in 2021 Ukrainian carriers will additionally receive 3,000 universal permits, of which 600 will be available at the points of issuance of permits starting next week. For 2022, the quota of permits has been increased by almost 25%, from 20,300 to 25,500. In addition, the universal permit form can be used for bilateral, transit and combined modes of transportation.
“The increase in the number of transport permits with Bulgaria is a good indicator of the development of our trade relations with the EU. We expect similar decisions from our other European partners. When we signed an Association Agreement with the EU in 2015, one of the key foundations for strengthening economic cooperation was that the dynamics of trade should not deteriorate. On the basis of this principle, the further policy of the Ministry of Infrastructure on international transportation will be formed,” Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mustafa Nayyem is quoted as saying.
More than 3 million tourists visited Odesa in 2021, Mayor of the city Hennadiy Trukhanov has said.
“Today, we are entering the pre-COVID period and have the following data: more than 3 million tourists visited Odesa this year,” he said at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine on Thursday in Kyiv.
According to him, the growth of the indicator was influenced by the launch of the airfield complex, as well as the creation of a pedestrian zone in the center of Odesa.
“We are implementing the project and have created a pedestrian center, which is the largest in Ukraine – more than 6 km, 10 streets, squares, parks. There are 170 architectural monuments in the pedestrian center zone, of which 31 are monuments of national importance,” Trukhanov said.
At the same time, the mayor asked for state support in the renovation of the Odesa park Yuvileiny.
Ferroalloy enterprises of Ukraine in January-August of this year increased their production by 8% in total compared to the same period last year, to 587,620 tonnes, including 88,930 tonnes produced in August.
As the Ukrainian Association of Producers of Ferroalloys and Other Electrometallurgical Products told Interfax-Ukraine, in January-August 2021 production of silicon manganese at Zaporizhia and Nikopol Ferroalloy Plants increased by 11.3%, to 458,360 tonnes. At the same time, the total production of ferromanganese at three plants decreased by 22.1%, to 70,600 tonnes: Zaporizhia, Nikopol and Kramatorsk Ferroalloy Plants (Kramatorsk plant was idle in January-August 2021, while in the same period of 2020 it produced 34,090 tonnes).
In addition, in Ukraine, production of ferrosilicon (equivalent to 45% ferrosilicon) increased by 34.4%, to 53,840 tonnes, and metallic manganese – by 2.7 times, to 4,820 tonnes.
Pokrov (previously Ordzhonikidze) and Marhanets Mining and Processing Plants (both located in Dnipropetrovsk region) which extract and concentrate manganese ore, in January-August 2021 produced a total of 1.122 million tonnes of manganese concentrate, which is 3.8% lower compared to January-August 2020. At the same time, Marhanets plant produced 364,100 tonnes of concentrate (a decrease of 1.06% compared to the same period in 2020), and Pokrov plant produced 757,940 tonnes (a decrease of 5.1%).
In January-August 2021, Pokrov Mining and Processing Plant also produced 195,040 tonnes of iron ore sinter (93% more compared to the same period in 2020), supplying it to Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant (DMZ), part of DCH Steel from DCH Group of businessman Oleksandr Yaroslavsky.
Accrued insurance premiums under Green Card international insurance agreements concluded by the member companies of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU) in January-August 2021 increased by 37.52% compared to the same period in 2020, to UAH 1.075 billion.
According to the MTIBU website, the number of Green Card agreements concluded during this period increased by 22.04%, to 496,200.
At the same time, the amount of compensations paid on claims decreased by 35.54%, to EUR 7.865 million, the number of claims paid – by 20.26%, to 3,302.
The MTIBU is the only association of insurers that provide compulsory insurance of civil liability of land vehicle owners for damage caused to third parties.
Green Card is a system of insurance coverage for victims of road traffic accidents, regardless of their country of residence and the country of registration of the vehicle. The Green Card program covers the territory of 47 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
According to the decision adopted by the General Assembly of the Council of the Bureaux of the Green Card international auto insurance system in Luxembourg in May 2004, Ukraine since January 1, 2005 has been a full member of this system.
More than 1,200 patients with coronavirus are being treated in the capital’s medical institutions, the vast majority of them are in serious condition, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
“Today in the city’s hospitals there are more than 1,200 patients with coronavirus. These people are in serious condition. The vast majority of them need oxygen support. Almost 100% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated. And this is one of the main arguments why you need to be vaccinated. Therefore, if you do not care about your health, think about your parents, relatives, friends. Their safety is your responsibility too. I really do not want to go back to the period when more than 50 people died from the virus in a day. And now the virus is more aggressive. The disease is more difficult and causes complications,” the mayor said on the air of the Freedom of Speech (Svoboda Slova) program on Ukraina TV Channel.
According to Klitschko, more than 1.7 million vaccinations were made in Kyiv today, more than 880,000 vaccinations with the first dose and more than 890,000 – with two doses. In particular, almost 90% of teachers are vaccinated. Nevertheless, the percentage of people vaccinated remains high.
“We cannot make vaccination compulsory. But if strict restrictions are imposed, if, for example, you want to go to a catering establishment or to some public events, you will not do this without vaccination. Sorry, but this is a concern, first of all, about the most valuable thing – people’s health and lives,” Klitschko said.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will launch flights on the Kyiv-Stockholm Skavsta (Sweden) route from December 16, 2021.
The press service of the airline said on Friday that the flights will be operated twice a week: on Thursdays and Sundays.
According to Wizz Air Internal Communications Manager Paulina Gosk, the launch of this flight will strengthen cultural and economic ties between Ukraine and Sweden.
There are currently no direct flights between cities.
