U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed Russia’s aggression in Ukraine during a telephone conversation on Saturday, the U.S. State Department reports.
“The Secretary [speaking about the situation in Ukraine] noted the world is watching to see which nations stand up for the basic principles of freedom, self-determination and sovereignty,” the State Department’s press release reads.
As noted in the department, Blinken told his Chinese counterpart that the countries of the world act in concert in relation to Russia “ensuring that Moscow will pay a high price.”
Earlier this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China intends to continue cooperation with Russia in the field of trade and does not support any illegal unilateral sanctions.
Beijing, for its part, welcomed the start of negotiations between representatives of Russia and Ukraine and expressed hope that the parties will continue diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation around Ukraine.
The Cabinet of Ministers has provided funding for the state-owned enterprise National Project Air Express to stop the implementation of a project of passenger railway communication between Kyiv and Boryspil airport. According to an explanatory note to the document, this will minimize Ukraine’s losses associated with the termination of credit and commercial agreements concluded between the SOE National Project Air Express and the China National Complete Engineering Corporation together with the Export-Import Bank of China.
It is expected that as a result of the resumption of negotiations and termination of agreements, about $73.7 million can be returned to the Ukrainian side.
The explanatory note also states that at the moment the SOE National Project Air Express is not solvent, and in order for the enterprise to be able to terminate the contracts under the mentioned project, it is necessary to pay off debts on salaries and payments to the state budget, as well as accumulate funds for participation in litigation.
In particular, the state-owned enterprise National Project Air Express has arrears in wages – UAH 831,000, in payment of personal income tax – UAH 341,000, in military fee – UAH 28,500, and in single social security tax – UAH 222,000.
As reported, in Ukraine for a long time there was an unrealized national project Air Express – railway passenger communication Kyiv-Boryspil International Airport, construction of other infrastructure facilities in Kyiv region. For its implementation in 2011, under state guarantees, a loan agreement was concluded with the Export Import Bank of China in the amount of $372.3 million. CCEC was appointed as a general contractor for the turnkey construction works.
In June 2015, it became known that Ukraine and China were ready to discuss the possibility of redirecting credit funds provided for Air Express to other projects, and in March 2016, the Ministry of Infrastructure received the consent of Chinese partners to reformat the Air Express project.
On November 30, 2018, Ukrzaliznytsia launched an express train to Boryspil airport with a floating schedule of 21 to 30 voyages per day. To this end, about 4 km of non-electrified track was added to the existing railway infrastructure, including a 272 m long railway overpass over the M03 Kyiv-Kharkiv highway. Two passenger platforms were built. For operation on the route Central Kyiv Railway Station-Boryspil Airport, Ukrzaliznytsia repaired five rail buses manufactured by Pesa Bydgoszcz SA previously purchased for operation on other routes.
The Cabinet of Ministers has provided funding for the state-owned enterprise National Project Air Express to stop the implementation of a project of passenger railway communication between Kyiv and Boryspil airport.
The government adopted the relevant resolution at a meeting on Wednesday.
According to an explanatory note to the document, this will minimize Ukraine’s losses associated with the termination of credit and commercial agreements concluded between the SOE National Project Air Express and the China National Complete Engineering Corporation together with the Export-Import Bank of China.
It is expected that as a result of the resumption of negotiations and termination of agreements, about $73.7 million can be returned to the Ukrainian side.
The explanatory note also states that at the moment the SOE National Project Air Express is not solvent, and in order for the enterprise to be able to terminate the contracts under the mentioned project, it is necessary to pay off debts on salaries and payments to the state budget, as well as accumulate funds for participation in litigation.
In particular, the state-owned enterprise National Project Air Express has arrears in wages – UAH 831,000, in payment of personal income tax – UAH 341,000, in military fee – UAH 28,500, and in single social security tax – UAH 222,000.
As reported, in Ukraine for a long time there was an unrealized national project Air Express – railway passenger communication Kyiv-Boryspil International Airport, construction of other infrastructure facilities in Kyiv region. For its implementation in 2011, under state guarantees, a loan agreement was concluded with the Export Import Bank of China in the amount of $372.3 million. CCEC was appointed as a general contractor for the turnkey construction works.
In June 2015, it became known that Ukraine and China were ready to discuss the possibility of redirecting credit funds provided for Air Express to other projects, and in March 2016, the Ministry of Infrastructure received the consent of Chinese partners to reformat the Air Express project.
On November 30, 2018, Ukrzaliznytsia launched an express train to Boryspil airport with a floating schedule of 21 to 30 voyages per day. To this end, about 4 km of non-electrified track was added to the existing railway infrastructure, including a 272 m long railway overpass over the M03 Kyiv-Kharkiv highway. Two passenger platforms were built. For operation on the route Central Kyiv Railway Station-Boryspil Airport, Ukrzaliznytsia repaired five rail buses manufactured by Pesa Bydgoszcz SA previously purchased for operation on other routes.
The State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection has submitted to the Chinese side the lists of Ukrainian producers of vegetable oil exporting it to China for approval, this measure is due to the requirement introduced in the PRC to register foreign food producers.The changes in the procedure for the export of food products that occurred in the national legislation of the PRC in October this year were reported on the website of the State Food Service.The agency clarified that, together with the Ukroliyaprom association, it collected and submitted information about Ukrainian exporters of vegetable oil for consideration by the Chinese side.The service clarified that China will complete the registration procedure and form a list of vegetable oil exporters by the end of 2021.The agency stressed that it is working on opening the Chinese market for poultry, eggs and egg products, wheat, rapeseeds, sorghum, peas and beans, cherries, wheat flour, soybean meal, apples, blueberries, etc.As reported, in January-July 2021, China imported Ukrainian agricultural products for $2.4 billion, India – for $947 million, the Netherlands – for $908 million, Spain – for $538 million. In total, the export of Ukrainian agricultural products for the seven months of 2021 increased by 6.7% compared to January-July 2020 – to $12.5 billion, imports – by 19.4%, to $4.19 billion.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he does not feel pressure from the United States on the economic interaction between Ukraine and China.
“I’m not saying that there are no signals from the United States regarding the relations of any countries in Europe with China. I’m not saying that there is no such thing, but we are a fairly independent country that chooses business partners for itself. If business is transparent and open and it creates additional jobs for Ukraine, this is a priority,” Zelensky said at the Yalta European Strategy Forum in the YES Brainstorming 2021 format in Kyiv on Friday.
Representatives of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, the China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC) and the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine during a meeting on August 9 reached an agreement on the export of one million tonnes of grain to China by the end of this year, the state corporation wrote on Facebook.
“We plan to carry out purchases at our own elevators and use our own logistics and port facilities in order to make our partners the most profitable price offer,” the company quotes the acting chairman of the board of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, Andriy Vlasenko.
The corporation also cites data from CCEC President Yang Jing, who noted that the Chinese side is interested in developing cooperation, strives to fulfill the conditions of the existing contract for the 2021/2022 marketing year (MG, July-June) and is waiting for proposals from the Ukrainian side.
In turn, the Ministry of Economy proposed to hold weekly negotiations on the supply of grain between the Grain Corporation and CCEC.
As reported, in June 2021, the Grain Corporation discussed with CCEC representatives a possible delivery in the 2021/2022 MY of 2 million tonnes of early grain and 3 million tonnes of corn. The corporation clarified that it has completed a complex of preparatory work at the port facilities in Odesa and Mykolaiv, and also, at the request of the Chinese side, reached agreements with partners on the possibility of transshipment of an additional one million tonnes of grain at Chornomorsk seaport (Odesa region).
