Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebiynis has accepted copies of credentials from the new Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Ukraine Mustafa Levent Bilgen.
“Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador M. Levent Bilgen today handed copies of his credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebiynis,” the Turkish embassy said on Twitter.
As reported in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Perebiynis and Ambassador Bilgen discussed a number of topical issues of bilateral cooperation and international agenda, in particular, in the context of food security and implementation of the provisions of the “Formula of Peace” of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Deputy Minister wished success to Bilgen in his activities as Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Ukraine, which will contribute to deepening the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Turkey.
The previous Turkish ambassador to Ukraine, Yagmur Ahmet Güldere, held the post since January 2019.
ChatGPT and other applications based on generative (content-creating) artificial intelligence (AI) will gradually supplant traditional search engines, according to Michael Wolfe, co-founder and head of Activate, an American consulting company.
According to Activate, about 13 million American adults currently start their Internet searches with generative artificial intelligence services. By 2027, the number of such users will exceed 90 million, Wolfe expects and attributes this to the ability of generative AI to produce much more accurate and personalized results.
“Generative AI fundamentally changes the search model because results are no longer presented as links,” The Wall Street Journal quoted the expert as saying. – “It delivers information absolutely ‘packaged’ and ready to use.”
The new trend will benefit most of all from services with impressive volumes of client data, which will facilitate the issuance of personalized information, Wolfe believes.
From his point of view, the leader in this area will be TikTok. According to Activate, users spend an average of more than 54 minutes a day on the Chinese social network. The same figure for YouTube – 49 minutes, Instagram and Facebook (Meta Platforms information resources – 33 and 31 minutes respectively.
Greek Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras has initiated the launch of a railway connection between Greece, Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania to connect with Ukraine, Noi.md reports.
According to the report, the Greek minister proposed to launch the train during a summit in Varna (Bulgaria) on October 9 to diversify trade ties between Mediterranean ports and Ukraine.
The Greek government proposes that trains should run to the Greek ports of Alexandroupolis and Thessaloniki from the ports of Ruse in Bulgaria and Constanta in Romania, and then connections could be established with Moldova and Ukraine. This project can become an alternative option in trade relations between the two countries, strengthening transport links and international freight transportation, Greece believes.
The Greek Minister of Transport sent a letter of intent to European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean, Bulgarian Minister of Finance Assen Vasilev, Bulgarian Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov, and Romanian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Sorin Grindian.
As reported, the European Union is exploring alternative routes for Ukrainian grain through Italy and Greece.
Kormotech, Ukraine’s largest manufacturer of cat and dog food, will implement a number of investment projects in Ukraine and Lithuania, where it has production facilities, as part of the development of its production capacities in 2023-2024, said the company’s beneficiary Rostyslav Vovk during a Business Breakfast with Forbes Ukraine on Wednesday.
According to him, Kormotech completed a 25% expansion of the company’s factory in Lithuania in the second quarter of 2023. In addition, in the third quarter, it will put into operation a new line at a factory in Lviv region for the production of wet fodder.
“EUR8m was invested in it (the new line at the factory in Lviv region), which allowed us to expand the plant’s production capacity by 65%. If earlier its capacity was 17,000 tons (of fodder – IF-U) per year, now it will be 27,000 tons,” he said.
In addition, according to the information of the company owner, at the end of 2023 Kormotech will start construction of a new factory in Lithuania, in which it will invest more than EUR60 mln.
“This factory will have the same capacity as our two factories in Ukraine. It will be plus 40 thousand tons. We should reach the launch of the first line in the middle of 2025,” Vovk emphasized.
The state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” will plant 86 million new trees on the territory of 13.9 thousand hectares in the fall of 2023, the company’s director general Yuriy Bolokhovets said.
“We started the forest cultivation campaign in the fall. Our priorities: forests of new quality, more resistant to climate change, less vulnerable to pests and fires. The areas of monoculture creation are being reduced, predominantly mixed forest crops are being designed,” Bolokhovets noted.
Among the priorities of the enterprise is also afforestation of all clear-cuts in the forests of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”, as well as afforestation of degraded areas transferred to the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” by local communities.
“We are significantly increasing the share of seedlings with closed root system (CRS). By this indicator we are gradually catching up with Poland. Five modern breeding centers have been opened and are already working. Opening of four more will increase the planting material with CLS up to 25 million units. Such seedlings give better survival rate, higher growth. The duration of the silvicultural campaign increases”, – said the Director General.
According to his information, instead of dying artificial spruce plantations in the Carpathian region will be planted natural beech and spruce forests, which have decorated the mountainsides for centuries. Large-scale forest planting in southern Ukraine is also planned.
“In the past, only 100-200 hectares of forest were planted there annually in the south. This year at the expense of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” carried out a huge preparatory work and we will plant about 5.4 thousand hectares”, – emphasized Bolokhovets and added that the reproduction of forests in the South of Ukraine will be carried out exclusively taking into account the results of scientific research to preserve natural ecosystems.
As reported, the State Specialized Economic Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and the largest forest user in Ukraine. It is under the management of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The enterprise manages 6.6 million hectares of the state forest fund.
In Ukraine, the forestry reform started in 2016. Within its framework, the sale of untreated timber at electronic auctions has already been introduced. Since 2021, an interactive map of timber processing facilities location has been in test mode in a number of regions.
The industry has introduced the project “Forest in a smartphone”, which contains a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows to check the legality of logging on the online map of the department.
Since June 1, 2023 Ukraine has launched a pilot of electronic issuance of logging tickets and certificates of origin of timber. In addition, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” started a pilot project for the procurement of timber harvesting services through the electronic platform Prozorro.
To date, Forests of Ukraine has harvested more than 130 thousand cubic meters of firewood for the heating season 2023/2024.
LLC “Cardboard and Paper Company” (Lviv), a major Ukrainian manufacturer of cardboard sleeves and sanitary-hygienic products, in January-September 2023 increased its output by 13.2% to UAH 965.6 mln ($965.6 mln) compared to the same period of 2022.
According to the statistical data of UkrPapir Association provided to Interfax-Ukraine, in physical terms the company increased the output of cardboard products by 1.9% – up to 20.5 thousand tons, paper-base for sanitary-hygienic products by 5.1% – up to 5.7 thousand tons. Output of toilet paper in rolls increased by 50% to 4.5 mln pieces.
At the same time, in September the company increased output of paper and cardboard by 6% compared to the same month last year – up to 3.13 thousand tons, which is also 2% more than in August this year.
Cardboard and Paper Company LLC produces products and semi-finished products from recovered paperboard (cardboard sheets, corners, sleeves), pulp and recycled waste paper (toilet paper, towels, napkins TM Papero). Supplies products to EU countries, among others.
Customers include Biosphere, Arterium, Nestle, Khlebprom, and Yarich.
As reported, in 2022, the factory, without suspending work during the year, increased the volume of marketable products by 51.5% compared to 2021 – up to 1 billion 186 million UAH. Net profit tripled to UAH 263.7 mln.
