Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced the start of a second tour of Africa, plans to visit states in all parts of the continent – “from the north to the south.”
“Morocco. At the beginning of my second tour of Africa, Moroccan partners invited me to visit the beautiful Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, the largest active mosque in Africa. It is a true work of art, on which more than 10,000 Moroccan artists and craftsmen have been working for seven years. And the main thing is that the doors of this mosque are made of Ukrainian titanium. As strong as the Ukrainian soldiers now defending our Ukraine from the enemy,” Kuleba wrote on Instagram.
He noted that this is the first visit of the Ukrainian foreign minister to Morocco since the establishment of bilateral relations.
Kuleba recalled that during his first tour in the fall of 2022, he visited Sub-Saharan Africa, and now he intends to visit “states in all parts of the continent, from the north to the south.”
“The logistics here are brutal, but work is work. Important talks with African leaders and business are ahead,” the minister wrote.
Three key challenges lie ahead, he said.
“First: involve as many African countries as possible in the implementation of Zelensky’s ‘peace formula. Second: to gain support for uninterrupted exports of Ukrainian grain within the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the President’s program “Grain from Ukraine”. Third: to create new opportunities for Ukrainian business,” the head of the Foreign Ministry said.
He stressed that Africa is interested in Ukrainian goods and services, in particular, food, medicines, high-tech equipment, education, experience of digital transformation and strengthening information sustainability, diplomatic experience, cooperation in international organizations.
“That’s what I’ll be working on during the week. Stay tuned,” Kuleba added.
In 2022 the EU countries have increased imports of honey in physical form by almost 10% – up to 190.6 thousand tons, which in money equivalent is EUR504.2 million, said honey market analyst Anna Burka in Facebook.
According to her data, the EU increased imports from China by 42%, Argentina – by 35%, as well as from Turkey and Vietnam, while imports from Ukraine decreased in kind by 14%.
“Ukraine remains one of the main suppliers of honey to the EU, but in 2022 China ranks first in the ranking (in volume terms). At the same time, if we look at imports in money terms, Ukraine is still the leader,” the analyst noted.
According to data of the European Commission, as quoted by Anna Burka, in 2022 Ukraine supplied 46.09 tons of honey to the EU, which accounted for 24.2% of total imports. A year earlier, the figure was 53.836 thousand tons, and Ukraine had a 31% share of supplies. In 2029, supplies reached 54.8 thousand tons, which was 31.3% of all EU honey imports.
Judging by the four-year trends cited by the EC, EU consumption of honey, particularly imported honey, is on the rise. While in 2019, EU countries imported 167.097 thousand tons of it, in 2020 it increased by 4.7% to 174.912 thousand tons, in 2022 imports reached 190.591 thousand tons, an increase of 9.8% over the year before.
As reported, in 2022 88% of Ukrainian honey exports accounted for the EU countries, which brought exporters $120 million.
The main buyers of Ukrainian honey were Germany, which bought it for $38 million, Poland – $24 million, France – $11 million, Italy – $7 million, Spain – $6 million, Belgium – $6 million. Among the countries from other regions that imported Ukrainian honey were the US, which bought it for $10 million and Japan – $1.7 million. Minor volumes were supplied to Turkey, Israel, Qatar, UAE, Somalia.
Ukrainian businessman and former owner of PrivatBank Igor Kolomoyskyy is interested in taking away from the mining company Ferrexpo 40% of its main asset – Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK) in the case initiated by his business partners – Russians Aleksandr Babakov, Evgeny Giner and Mikhail Voyevodin, said Konstantin Zhevago, owner of 49.5% of Ferrexpo.
“These are Russian owners from whom we acquired this stake in 2002. These are Babakov, Giner, Voyevodin. 100% includes Kolomoisky, because he is their partner in Dneprospetsstal and other assets in Ukraine,” Zhevago said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine, answering a question about the customers of the case.
He added that the directors of the British companies that tried to take away the 40% stake in PGOK are directors of many Cypriot companies of both Kolomoysky, Babakov, Voyevodin and Giner.
“It doesn’t happen that in Cyprus, where there are millions of companies, for some reason the same lawyers were executives both in these companies suing me and in the companies that own part of Ukrnafta or other companies related to which Mr. Kolomoysky is involved,” the businessman said.
According to Zhevago, he considers the initiation of this case as a fraud The material states that in 2002 he agreed with the Russians to buy out this stake for $40 million.
“They received a fair price for the shares sold in 2002. Both parties were satisfied with the agreement,” the Ukrainian businessman said, claiming that they then invested $3.2 billion in three mining and processing plants, of which the Poltava Mining had about $1.8 billion.
“I understand that there is a huge temptation to get 40% of the $1.8 billion. At first it was about compensation. They came every two years. I refused to communicate, but they tried to find me through various corrupt politicians, partners or somewhere in London, New York. And all the time this was on the agenda”, – stated Zhevago.
Commenting on the allegations of his alleged involvement in the bribe to the head of the Supreme Court for a decision in this case, the businessman denied them again and stated his willingness to provide investigators with any information on the case.
“I have not received any appeal. I do not understand my status in this case. I am preparing documents to apply for an explanation of my status. I want to cooperate and prove that neither I, nor our lawyers, nor Ferrexpo had or will have anything to do with any illegal actions in this case or any other cases,” he stressed.
Zhevago admitted that it is his voice that sounds on the tapes of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, as he has personally communicated with all five legal companies involved in this case for the last at least a year, including Goretsky & Partners, which has worked for Poltava and Yeristovskiy GOK since 2019.
Speaking about the possibility of reviewing the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Ferrexpo in the case concerning the 40% stake in PGOK, the businessman said that in order to do that it should be proved that most of the judges received bribes.
Zhevago also did not rule out “that the state, through the President’s Office, could scout the possibility of at least nationalizing this stake, if the Russians get it.
In general, the businessman said that Ferrexpo does not need to be saved from the “encroachment of the Ukrainian authorities,” as Ferrexpo – a public company, which is listed on the main platform of the London Stock Exchange and has among its shareholders such investors as BlackRock and JP Morgan Asset Management.
“The shareholders, who together with me have invested $3.2 billion in the company, have the right to defend themselves,” said the owner of 49.5% of Ferrexpo.
He specified that the accusations of non-payment of 10 billion hryvnias of rent by Ferrexpo “have smoothly transformed” into 2 billion hryvnias, called them lies and expressed confidence that this case will not stand up in a single court.
According to him, the company today works as much as it can logistically take its products to markets and as much as it can have electricity for production.
“Logistics with closed ports does not allow to work more than 30-40% – consumption in Europe is limited, and delivering it to any foreign port is very expensive and makes the products uncompetitive,” – explained Zhevago.
On May 18, 2023, a unique wine evening “Consumer tasting of the best craft wines of Ukraine-2023” was held at the Kyiv analytical center “Experts Club”. The event presented the best wines of Ukraine according to the results of the VII All-Ukrainian Tasting Competition “Variety and Terroir. Micro winemaking. Unbreakable”.
The evening was special not only because of the unsurpassed range of wines but also because two winners in two competitions were determined.
Within the framework of the Consumer Tasting of the Best Craft Wines of Ukraine-2023 competition, the winner was the Merlot 2020 wine from TM NAROVYLO WINERY, and the winner of the Best Design of a Bottle of Craft Wine of Ukraine-2023 competition was the Pinot Noir 2020 wine from TM 46 Parallel. Both winners received certificates from the Experts Club .
“This evening gave us a unique opportunity to see, feel and, most importantly, taste the highest standard of Ukrainian winemaking. After all, most of the presented wine brands is yet on public sale,” said Natalia Blagopoluchna, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Winemakers and Sommeliers.
In his turn, the founder of the Experts Club, Maksym Urakin, emphasized that it is extremely important to support and celebrate the winemaking achievements of Ukrainian craft producers.
“The winner of the competition, Merlot 2020 from NAROVYLO WINERY, demonstrates the highest quality of our national winemaking products, and the creative design of Pinot Noir 2020 from 46 Parallel shows that Ukrainian winemakers not only understand the true taste of wine, but also care about every detail, including the design of the bottle. This perfectly illustrates our passion for winemaking. In my opinion, Ukrainians should develop consumer patriotism, choosing products primarily from domestic producers, because they are no worse and often much better than imported ones,” emphasized Maxim Urakin.
The wine evening at the Experts Club was attended by many well-known personalities, including wine producers, restaurateurs, representatives of the retail industry, media community and others.
It should be noted that the wines that took part in the tasting were highly appreciated by all those present. They represent a variety of grape varieties and winemaking techniques used in Ukraine, including the innovative Orange, 2021 from TM Kovach Wine and Zagrei, 2022 from the National Scientific Center “Tairov Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking”.
The event also featured Ukrainian grappa, which has long been recognized as one of the most unique products in Ukrainian winemaking and has received recognition from experts in the country of origin of this drink – Italy.
The Consumer Tasting of the Best Craft Wines of Ukraine-2023 is an important event in the Ukrainian winemaking calendar, and this year it demonstrated the enormous potential of the Ukrainian wine industry despite the difficult times for our country. This event has once again confirmed that Ukraine has everything to produce high-quality wines that can compete in the global market.
CLUB_OF_EXPERTS, COMPETITION, EXPERTS_CLUB, NATALIA_BLAGOPOZHNAYA, WINE
Ukraine and Japan will hold a joint conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, President Vladimir Zelensky said on his website following his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the G7 summit.
In particular, the parties agreed to hold a Ukrainian-Japanese conference on the restoration of Ukraine and to involve private business in this process.
The leaders discussed the possibility of Japanese investment in the production of hydrogen, lithium batteries, cars, energy equipment, as well as in the construction of overpasses and railway infrastructure.
Zelenskyy reportedly thanked Japan for the allocation of a 7.6 billion dollar financial aid package, as well as for the decision to admit wounded Ukrainian servicemen to the Self-Defense Forces hospital for treatment and for additional aid in the form of 100 trucks for the needs of the AFU.
Zelenskyy and Kishida discussed further steps for assistance to Ukraine by the Japanese government, in particular to strengthen the material and technical capabilities of the Ukrainian defense forces.
The head of state stressed that Ukraine counts on Japan’s support for a global summit on the implementation of the Ukrainian peace formula.
A new military aid package was announced at a meeting between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden at the G7, President Andrei Yermak, head of the office, wrote in his Telegram channel Sunday.
“There is a new military aid package for Ukraine. It includes: additional ammunition for HIMARS; artillery shells; TOW anti-tank guided missiles; Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank systems; bridge systems; armored medical vehicles; trucks and trailers to transport heavy equipment; thermal imaging systems; spare parts and other field equipment. A $375 million package. thanks to allies,” he wrote.
