Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal met with Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Leuven on October 13 as part of a working trip to the Kingdom of Sweden, where the parties discussed the development of bilateral relations between the countries.
The press service of the government said on Wednesday evening that Shmyhal expressed gratitude to the Swedish side for organizing the International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Anti-Semitism, as well as for Sweden’s participation in the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform in August this year.
He also noted the support provided by the Swedish government for the implementation of the decentralization reform and thanked for the assistance provided through the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority for Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
“Diversification of nuclear fuel sources is one of our priorities in the context of ensuring energy security. In addition, Ukraine has met all the technical conditions for joining its integrated power system to the European ENTSO-E network. For us, this will be an important step towards energy independence,” Shmyhal said.
The parties also discussed issues of cooperation in the field of waste disposal and recycling.
The head of government said that investments and an increase in investment activity can become a driver for the development of economic relations between the countries. He urged Swedish companies to continue implementing joint projects in Ukraine, in particular taking advantage of the law on the so-called “investment nannies”.
Shmyhal also said that Ukraine is ready to further develop cooperation in the field of information technology, in particular in terms of digitalization and strengthening cyber security.
Ferrexpo Plc (the U.K.), managing Poltava Mining and Yeristovo Mining in Ukraine, has started cooperation with specialists Ricardo Plc (the U.K.), as part of decarbonization plans by 2050. “The Group undertakes a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions from its operations by the year 2050,” the company said in a press release on Monday. In addition, the group undertakes an initial commitment to achieve a minimum of a 30% reduction in combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
According to the press release, Ricardo to also help enhance the group’s existing climate change scenario reporting and review the role of Ferrexpo’s iron ore pellets within the circular economy. Results of Ricardo’s analysis expected to enhance the group’s carbon reduction targets and to further develop climate change reporting in 2022.
Jim North, Interim Group Chief Executive Officer, said that whilst iron ore pellets offer our customers the opportunity to significantly reduce carbon emissions already, it is important to signal a clear intention to decarbonise our own operations.
“It is on this basis that we have adopted the targets announced today, to demonstrate both our focus on climate change and our understanding of the importance of decarbonisation,” North said.
He said that Ferrexpo jointly with Ricardo intends to be a workstream that develops science-based reduction targets and a timeline for the stages of decarbonisation in each aspect of the Ferrexpo business.
“In the 18 months to June 2021, the group has already recorded a carbon reduction in excess of 20%2, which is a demonstration of our commitment to the environment,” North said.
Tim Curtis, Energy & Environment Managing Director at Ricardo Plc, said that Ricardo’s experts have been helping organisations around the world to develop robust and science-based pathways to achieving net zero carbon emissions and they will support Ferrexpo with the development of its decarbonisation targets and providing objective expertise to help realise this ambition.
Ricardo Plc is a world-class environmental, engineering and strategic consulting company.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ukraine and the United States have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation mechanisms on veterinary and biosecurity requirements, and discussed joint initiatives at the global level regarding common requirements under trade agreements and individual bilateral veterinary certificates, the Economy Ministry said on its website. The corresponding decision was made during a meeting between First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Oleksiy Liubchenko and Acting Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Jason Hafemeister during a working visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the United States.
According to the ministry, the parties also confirmed a common vision of the strategic goals of agricultural policy in matters of climate neutrality and overcoming hunger. In addition, Ukraine and the United States agreed on a common position within the framework of the UN Food Systems Summit, which will be held on September 23 this year, to achieve sustainable development goals, including overcoming hunger.
In addition, the Ukrainian side called on American companies to increase the supply of modern technologies in the Ukrainian market. The parties also discussed the involvement of American companies in the implementation of land reclamation projects in Ukraine as part of efforts to counter the negative consequences of climate change.
Export Credit Agency (ECA) and export credit agency KUKE S.A. (Poland) have signed a memorandum of cooperation to support and facilitate trade and foreign investment between Poland and Ukraine, according to the ECA website.
According to the memorandum, companies can propose joint projects, hold meetings and exchange general information on business development, new products, structural changes, country policies and insurance standards.
“Ukraine is becoming an increasingly important economic partner for Poland: it ranks third among the largest Polish export destinations covered by KUKE and is still growing dynamically. The agreement recently signed by our agencies will allow exporters from both countries to cooperate, including under joint projects in third markets. At the same time, the agreement gives KUKE an opportunity to share with our Ukrainian partner 30 years of export support experience, becoming an important factor in the stable economic development of Ukraine,” President and Managing Director of KUKE Janusz Władyczak said.
ECA is an agency authorized by the government, the purpose of which is to stimulate the export of Ukrainian goods and services, and the main task is to protect Ukrainian exporters from the risk of non-payment and financial losses associated with the implementation of foreign economic agreements (contracts) through insurance, reinsurance and collateral.
KUKE S.A. was established in 1991 by the State Treasury of Poland to support the export activities of Polish enterprises. As the official export credit agency of Poland, KUKE is authorized to provide export insurance with the support of the state treasury, helping Polish companies to develop abroad. KUKE currently operates in 120 export markets.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov congratulated Igor Grosu on his election to the post of head of the Parliament of Moldova.
“Today, during a phone conversation, congratulated Speaker of the Parliament of Moldova Igor Grosu on his election to office. The victory of pro-European forces in the elections in Moldova opens up opportunities to intensify relations with Ukraine. We are interested in deepening cooperation with our neighbor,” Razumkov said on Twitter on Monday.
Metinvest, an international vertically integrated group of mining and metals companies, signed a memorandum of cooperation with K1-MET, a leading Austrian research center in metallurgy, to implement joint projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the steel industry in line with the European Green Deal.
As part of its long-term vision to develop emissions-free steelmaking, Metinvest plans to increase the sustainability of its production facilities and is interested in gaining experience of leading technologies aimed at reducing environmental footprint. Meanwhile, К1-МЕТ has profound experience and expertise regarding the implementation of research and development projects focusing on energy efficiency, the circular economy, carbon capture, storage and usage, climate-neutral metal production and other related areas in collaboration with leading industrial players, research organizations and institutes.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, pointed to the group’s awareness of the urgent need to reduce the negative impact of metallurgical production on the environment.
“Metinvest is constantly looking at various technological solutions to reduce its emissions today and in the future. The partnership with K1-MET represents an important part of a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing the steel industry in the long run, and we will continue to actively explore this and other areas,” he said.
In turn, Thomas Buergler, CEO of K1-MET, said that the decision of the 2015 climate conference in Paris to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 compared with the pre-industrial period, and the EU Green Deal 2019, which aims to make Europe a carbon-neutral continent in 2050, highlight great challenges for resource-intensive industry.
“The focus of the research and development programme at the K1-MET metallurgical competence centre is aligned with the climate targets, sustainable development goals and needs of our industrial partners,” the General Director said.
The projects combine carbon-neutral technologies, the circular economy and digitalization for sustainable steelmaking. Strategic research will also be increasingly considered to gain a deeper understanding of process flows. At K1-MET, the interaction of industrial and scientific partners helps to ensure that results from applied research can be transferred to industrial applications. The partnership with Metinvest based on the memorandum signed sets the course for this.
K1-MET (Austria) is one of the leading and internationally renowned metallurgical competence centres for ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy. It cooperates with established national and international partners from the sector to cover issues such as energy efficiency, the circular economy and carbon-neutral metal production. K1-MET and its partners are working on process solutions to advance the transformation of the European metallurgical industry.
AUSTRIAN RESEARCH CENTER, CARBON FOOTPRINT, COOPERATION, METINVEST
