Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Icelandic Foreign Minister Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir signed an agreement on air services at the meeting of the OSCE Foreign Ministers Council in Stockholm.
“The agreement creates the possibility of regular direct flights between Ukraine and Iceland,” the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
The document defines the procedure for regulating international flights between the two countries and the procedure for the designation of airlines, establishes the conditions for granting permits for regular flights, provides for the mutual recognition of crew member certificates, and contains provisions for aviation security.
In addition, the agreement establishes a mechanism for the inspection of airlines to assess their compliance with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Prices for construction and assembly work in Ukraine in October 2021 increased by 19.6% compared to October 2020, the State Statistics Service has reported.According to the statistics department, prices increased in all construction segments: in residential construction – by 16.1%, in non-residential – by 19.7%, in engineering – by 21.6%.Compared to the previous month, the cost of construction of residential, non-residential buildings and engineering structures increased by 1.8%, 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively.Since the beginning of the year, the rise in prices for construction work amounted to 17.7%, the service added.As reported, in 2020 prices for construction work in Ukraine increased by 3.7% compared to the previous year, while in 2019 – by 6%.The figures are given without taking into account the annexed territory of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as part of the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the service notes.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking about “red lines” for business representatives, believes that they should not influence people’s votes, participate in elections and finance strikes. “You don’t need to influence people’s opinions because you have something. For example, you have control over a large number of people because of the presence of a large number of enterprises. You cannot tell them to vote for this or that person and pay or delay wages in connection with this. Another story: as a businessman, in principle, you should not take part in elections… Further: you have no right to finance strikes. You have no right to ‘pester’ the population, distribute money. It’s hard for the country,” Zelensky said at a marathon press conference on Friday, answering the question of which “red lines” business representatives should not cross.According to Zelensky, business representatives also have no right to bribe MPs.“Well, how can you buy people? It’s slavery,” he said.He also added that people need to see the real situation with who this or that businessman is.“If there is no influence it is cool. We have so rich people. Well, give jobs, develop. The state is very interested, because today it is very difficult to find international investments in the state, but there is domestic investment. We need to reinvest,” the president added.
Ukraine reduced steel production by 3.3% in October 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, and by 6.2% compared to the previous month, to 1.599 million tonnes, down from 13th in 14th place in the ranking of 64 countries – the major world producers of these products, compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).In October 2021, an increase in steel production compared with October 2020 was recorded in most of the top ten countries, except for China and South Korea.The top ten steel-producing countries in October 2021 was as follows: China (71.580 million tonnes, a 23.3% drop compared to October 2020), India (9.793 million tonnes, an increase of 2.4%), Japan (8.224 million tonnes, an increase of 14.3%), the United States (7.501 million tonnes, an increase of 20.5%), the Russian Federation (6.06 million tonnes, an increase of 0.5%), South Korea (5.8 million tonnes, a decrease of 1%), Germany (3.655 million tonnes, an increase of 7%), Turkey (3.464 million tonnes, an increase of 8%), Brazil (3.150 million tonnes, an increase of 10.4%) and Italy (2.210 million tonnes, an increase of 4.2%).They are followed by Iran (2.190 million tonnes, a decrease of 15.3%), Taiwan (China, 1.950 million tonnes, an increase of 16.6%), Vietnam (1.888 million tonnes, an increase of 6.8%), Ukraine (1.599 million, a decline of 3.3%) and Mexico (1.550 million tonnes, 0.2% more).In general, in October this year, steel production decreased by 10.6% compared to the same period last year, to 145.666 million tonnes.In January-October 2021, the top ten steel-producing countries was the following: China (877.050 million tonnes, a decrease of 0.7%), India (96.932 million tonnes, an increase of 20.6%), Japan (80.357 million tonnes, an increase of 17.5%), the United States (71.717 million tonnes, 19.6% more), Russia (62.503 million tonnes, an increase of 5.7%), South Korea (58.667 million tonnes, an increase of 5.9%), Germany (33.561 million tonnes, an increase of 15.1%), Turkey (33.333 million tonnes, an increase of 14.2%), Brazil (30.320 million tonnes, an increase of 19.1%) and Iran (22.374 million tonnes, a decrease of 5.7%).They are followed by Italy (20.720 million tonnes, an increase of 23.9%), Vietnam (19.684 million tonnes, an increase of 27.5%), Taiwan (China, 19.188 million tonnes, an increase of 11%), Ukraine (17.893 million tonnes, 5.4% more) and Mexico (15.557 million tonnes, 12.8% more).In January-October 2021, 64 countries produced 1.607 billion tonnes of steel, which is 5.9% more than in the same period last year.
Public associations of farmers are asking the government to consider the possibility of providing chemical enterprises with a commodity loan for 1.25 billion cubic meters of natural gas for the production of mineral fertilizers, this will avoid a shortage of fertilizers and “unrestrained price increases” for them next spring.The corresponding appeal of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UAC), the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the Federation of Employers, the Union of Chemists of Ukraine, the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Council of Entrepreneurs under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agri Council and the Ukrainian Agrarian confederation to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was published on the UAC’s website.As stated in the appeal, over the past month, most of the major European producers of nitrogen mineral fertilizers have reduced production due to a sharp rise in prices for natural gas, which leads to a shortage of mineral fertilizers in the European and world markets.According to UAC, Ukraine meets the needs for mineral fertilizers mainly due to domestic production, while in order to provide the country’s sowing campaign, 2.3 million tonnes of fertilizers are needed for the period of November 2021-May 2022, of which 75% is expected from domestic production and 25% – from import supplies.In such conditions, an important component of providing Ukrainian farmers with nitrogen fertilizers is the stable and uninterrupted operation of domestic producers, primarily in the winter period, when their stock is formed for the spring sowing campaign and feeding winter crops. In turn, this can be achieved only if there is a necessary supply of natural gas, the main raw material for the chemical industry at a stable price.The associations in their appeal suggested that the government consider the possibility of allocating a commodity loan for 1.25 billion cubic meters of natural gas to domestic producers of nitrogen fertilizers for the period from November 2021 to April 2022 at the expense of the reserves of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy.
US Eximbank has tentatively agreed on the total amount of financing for construction of two new power units using AP1000 technology of the American company Westinghouse, further negotiations are underway, Head of Energoatom Petro Kotin has said.”Financing is provided through the US Eximbank. The total amount of financing for two power units has been preliminary agreed, but there is still a long procedure to make a final decision in order to receive this money,” Kotin said at a briefing at the international conference Atomic Opportunities for National Development, held in Kyiv on Monday.At the same time, he specified that “both the American and Ukrainian shares are being financed.” At the same time, he did not name the amount of funding.In the Energoatom’s presentation on nuclear power development, presented at the conference, the amount of construction of one power unit is indicated approximately in the range of $5 billion.At the same time, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko noted that conditions for provision of financing that are favorable for Ukraine, are being considered.”I would not like to specify anything before making a final decision, but I will say: we are talking about the use of funds for 18 years at very low interest rates,” he said, adding that “now we are talking about the first tranche of financing for two units.”As reported, Westinghouse (USA) and Energoatom signed two cooperation agreements providing for the start of projects for construction of two new power units at Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant (KhNPP) using AP1000 technology.As part of the September visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States, Energoatom and Westinghouse Electric signed a memorandum on construction of five nuclear power units in Ukraine. The cost of the project will be about $25 billion.
