Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2009-2020.
SSC of Ukraine
During the Ukrainian-Moldovan political consultations, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Dumitru Sokolan discussed the status of implementation of the agreements reached during the visit of President of Moldova Maia Sandu to Kyiv in January 2021.
“The parties ‘synchronized watches’ regarding the nearest political contacts at the highest and high levels. Vasyl Bodnar informed about the preparations for the inaugural summit of the Crimean platform and the celebrations on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence on August 23-24,” the statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website said on Thursday, March 25.
It is reported that considerable attention was paid to the implementation of cross-border infrastructure projects, primarily the construction of a bridge across the river Dniester in the area of Yampil-Koseuts settlements, the parties positively noted the progress in this case.
“Bodnar and Sokolan emphasized the importance of an early resumption of negotiations between the authorized authorities in order to resolve the entire range of issues related to the functioning of the Dniester hydroelectric complex, as well as to complete the process of demarcation of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The parties checked their positions on expanding the legal framework between the two states in various fields.
A separate topic of the consultations was regional security issues, in particular the threats associated with the presence of Russian military units in the Transnistrian region of Moldova.
The Deputy Minister said that Ukraine is determined to continue supporting territorial integrity and sovereignty of Moldova within the internationally recognized borders, as well as to be an active participant in the negotiation process on the Transnistrian settlement.
“We regard the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of the Transnistrian region of Moldova as a matter of national and regional security,” the ministry’s press service quoted Bodnar as saying.
The parties discussed steps to strengthen bilateral trade and economic cooperation and implement energy projects.
In addition, it is reported that in context of humanitarian cooperation development, Bodnar asked to accelerate the ratification by the Moldovan side of the agreement signed on December 17, 2009 between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova on cooperation in ensuring the rights of persons belonging to national minorities (Ukraine ratified it on October 5, 2010).
The parties discussed ways to deepen cooperation with the EU in context of implementation of the two countries’ course towards European integration. The diplomats also exchanged views on the efforts of the governments of Ukraine and Moldova to counter the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Gas supply company Naftogaz Ukrainy in April will keep the price of natural gas for household consumers (population) at the current level of UAH 6.86 per cubic meter, and the price of gas within the supplier of “last resort” for the next month will also remain at the March level of UAH 6.99 per cubic meter.
“We are going to offer our clients the same price in April as they had in March. And thus we end the heating season with a stable price,” he said on the air of Channel 5 on Wednesday evening.
At the same time, Kobolev did not say what fixed price the group is ready to offer under an annual contract, which will begin on May 1, 2021, to both the population and wholesale buyers.
“This price has not been determined yet. We have signed the first big contract [with Dmytro Firtash’s Ye Energiya LLC], which contains a pricing formula. The price will be known for sure on April 25 this year,” said the head of Naftogaz.
Kobolev also said that the group’s market share increased by 11 p.p. – up to 13% from August 2020 to the present day.
The first batch of 1.915 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, produced by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, was sent to Ukraine on Thursday, March 25, according to the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in China.
“The inactivated vaccine, which was registered by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on March 10, has passed all stages of clinical trials that officially confirmed its effectiveness and safety.
Currently, the vaccine has been successfully used to protect the population in China, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries,” the message said.
Ukrainian YouTube channels in 2020 have grown in terms of audience and views, head of the YouTube partner program in Central and Eastern Europe Javid Aslanov said during an online conference on Wednesday, March 24.
According to him, over the past year, the number of Ukrainian channels with 100,000 subscribers and more has increased by 35%, and channels with 1 million subscribers and more – by 45%. On average, a Ukrainian user spends on YouTube more than 55 minutes every day.
According to YouTube, the main markets for Ukrainian creators on the platform are India, Indonesia, Brazil, the United States, the Middle East, and the EU.
Also, according to YouTube statistics, over the past three months, more than 1 billion users around the world have watched the channels of Ukrainian authors.
Among the most popular languages (in addition to Ukrainian and Russian), in which Ukrainian creators run their channels, are English, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic, as well as Portuguese, Indonesian and Vietnamese (in abbreviated order).
In Ukrainian segment of YouTube during the pandemic, quite unique trends arose: in December 2020, educational content (physics, mathematics and chemistry) in Ukraine was watched 50% more actively than a year before.
Viewers’ interest in local travel content has significantly increased – videos about hiking and rafting have grown in views by more than 80%.
“One of the most interesting trends in Ukrainian YouTube during the pandemic was the content on fish farming – the viewing time of the corresponding videos increased by 50% in December 2020 compared to December 2019,” the project’s presentation said.
In general, in Ukraine in 2020, daily views of home workout videos increased by 70,6%, videos with meditations increased in views – by 35%, and views of culinary channels increased by 45%.
In addition, the time of watching live streams on YouTube worldwide has grown ten times in three years, and viewers watch live streams on average four times longer than regular videos.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree approving the National Human Rights Strategy.
Decree No. 119/2021 was published on the President’s website and comes into force on the day of its publication.
According to the text of the document, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is instructed to draft, with the involvement of representatives of state and local authorities, as well as civil society institutions, domestic scientists and international experts, and to approve within three months an action plan for the implementation of the strategy for 2021-2023.
“The strategy is aimed at uniting society in matters of values of human rights and freedoms, which are ensured and protected on the basis of the principles of equality and non-discrimination. The document focuses on solving the main systemic problems in the field of ensuring the implementation and protection of human rights and freedoms in the face of new challenges the society is faced with,” the press service of the head of state said.
It is envisaged that the implementation of the strategy will be carried out in 27 main directions, including the prevention of torture and ill-treatment of people, ensuring the right to a fair trial, ensuring freedom of peaceful assembly and association, preventing and combating discrimination, ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, combating domestic violence, ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities, ensuring the rights of the child, environmental rights, the rights of war veterans, the rights of internally displaced persons and persons living in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The implementation of the strategy also provides for the restoration of the rights of persons deprived of their liberty as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the occupation of a part of the territory, ensuring the rights of persons who disappeared under special circumstances and their family members, overcoming the negative consequences of the conflict caused by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, etc.
The result of the implementation of the strategy should be the introduction of a systematic approach to ensuring human rights and freedoms, as well as the coordination of actions of the authorities, civil society and business and the creation in Ukraine of an effective mechanism for the implementation and protection of human rights and freedoms.
In addition, the implementation of the strategy should ensure progress in the implementation of Ukraine’s international treaties in the field of human rights, in particular the Association Agreement with the European Union, as well as contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of Ukraine for the period up to 2030 and improve the country’s position in international human rights rankings.
