The EU-Ukraine Association Council is scheduled for September 5, said Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy.
“We will continue to support Ukraine in advancing the reform agenda of its European perspective after Ukraine has been granted candidate status. We will hold an Association Council on September 5 after the summer break and we are working to ensure that this Council advances the European perspective for Ukraine through implementation of the necessary reforms,” he announced on Monday in Brussels at a press conference following the meeting of the EU Council at the level of foreign ministers.
Borrell confirmed that the ministers had unanimously approved his proposal for the next tranche from the European Peace Fund in the amount of 500 million euros, which will be formally decided in the coming days.
The High Representative stated that the EU is “terrified of the brutality of Russian aggression against the civilian population in Ukraine, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war”, the Russians are “burning fields with grain”, “blocking food supplies” and “are responsible for world hunger” . “Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation, while at the same time unleashing the global food and energy crisis. Ministers agreed that we must continue to stand by Ukraine in its struggle for independence. Ukraine needs more weapons and we will supply them. We We will continue to support Ukraine,” he assured.
Borrell also said that work continues on sanctions for the Russian Federation. He also refuted claims that energy price increases were driven up by the EU’s ban on Russian oil. “Many say that the EU, by imposing sanctions, provoked a rise in prices. This is not true. The price of oil rose one month before the war, and after we banned the export of oil from Russia, the price of oil fell,” the High Representative stated. .
On Thursday, May 12, the UN Human Rights Council will hold its 34th special meeting dedicated to the deterioration of the human rights situation in Ukraine as a result of Russian aggression.
“It is being convened in accordance with the official request filed today by Ukraine and supported so far by 53 states,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on its website on Monday.
The Office recalls that the convening of an extraordinary session requires the support of one third of the 47 members of the Council – 16 or more. To date, the following Council Member States have supported this request (16): Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.
They were also joined by the following Observer States (37): Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Specific details of the special session and its scenario will be discussed at a public meeting on May 11, UNHCHR clarifies.
The Office recalled that during the 49th regular session of the Human Rights Council on March 3 and 4, 2022, the Council held an emergency discussion on the issue of Russian aggression against Ukraine, after which it decided to establish an independent international commission to investigate all alleged human rights violations in the context of such aggression.
An extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of defense ministers will be held on March 16.
According to NATO headquarters on Tuesday, the meeting will be chaired by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The agenda has not been announced, however, based on the war waged by Russia against Ukraine, the heads of the defense departments of the member countries of the alliance will discuss the security situation in the light of recent events. The discussion will take place via teleconference.
This will be the fifth extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council this year, convened due to Russian aggression against Ukraine: on March 4, a meeting of the Council at the level of foreign ministers was held, in which Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took part via video link. Prior to that, on February 25, on the second day of the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the leaders of states and governments gathered for an extraordinary meeting. A few days earlier, on February 22, an extraordinary meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission was held at the headquarters, on February 16-17, a meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of defense ministers with the virtual participation of the head of the Ukrainian defense department Oleksiy Reznikov, and on January 7 – an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers.
The restoration of the Egypt-Ukraine Business Council will be on the agenda of the intergovernmental bilateral meeting in June, which will be held in Egypt, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt Ayman Ahmed Mokhtar Elgammal has said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that the Egypt-Ukraine Business Council will consist of representatives of Ukrainian and Egyptian business.
The Ambassador said that the Chambers of Commerce of both countries will present participants who are interested and have experience in doing business both in Ukraine and in Egypt. The council’s activities will also be aimed at promoting business and bilateral investments, holding various sectoral specialized exhibitions in both countries. Thus, since the council includes both sides, it will be clearer for business how to invest in Ukraine, Elgammal said.
The ambassador recalled that the Egypt-Ukraine Business Council was created ten years ago, but has been inactive in recent years.
The focus of activity (of the council) is not limited to investments. All types of business activities, investments, co-production, joint ventures and projects depending on the sector – everything will be promoted by this council, Elgammal said.
He is convinced that obtaining information on investment opportunities in Ukraine and Egypt through the council will be much faster and easier than through government institutions in both countries.
Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai agreed to hold a Trade and Investment Council.
“We talked about the need to strengthen dialogue on climate change, non-tariff rules for industrial and food products both in the context of strengthening the World Trade Organization (WTO) and on the bilateral track. We agreed to hold a Council on Trade and Investment and talk,” Kachka wrote on Facebook on Wednesday following a discussion with Tai on key trade issues held on May 11.
During the conversation, Tai expressed support for the idea of free production of vaccines (waiver), he said.
“We expressed our support. Ukraine is ready to act as a compressor of the waiver initiative and to convince the EU that it is necessary,” Kachka said.
With regard to duties on metallurgical products, the United States, according to Kachka, is ready to seek an individual approach to metal trading in order to overcome the problem of overcapacity.
“We explained that the duties and the EU measures applied later ended in the opposite direction in terms of overcapacity [excess capacity]. In general, Ukraine is more likely a partner of the West in transforming metallurgy,” Ukrainian trade representative added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by his decree ordered to create the coordination council to implement the Big Construction project led by Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
“To establish a coordination council for the implementation of the Big Construction program as an advisory body under the President of Ukraine, which main task is to monitor the situation and develop proposals for implementing effective measures to implement the Big Construction program,” Zelensky said in decree No. 246/2020 dated June 23, posted on the president’s website.
By the same decree, Zelensky decided to establish that this coordination council is authorized to receive the necessary information, documents and materials from the government and local governments, enterprises, institutions, organizations; invite to meetings and hear information from representatives of ministries, other central and local executive authorities, heads of state-owned enterprises, institutions and organizations on issues within its competence.
Zelensky by this decree approved the staff of the council.
So, Tymoshenko was appointed the head, and the council also includes Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Krykliy, Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov, Minister of Development of Communities and Territories Oleksiy Chernyshov, Head of the State Automobile Roads Agency Oleksandr Kubrakov, First Deputy head of the President’s Office Serhiy Trofimov, and Deputy Head of the President’s Office Yulia Sokolovska.
The coordination council also includes Director General of the Directorate for Regional Policy and Decentralization of the Government of Ukraine Olha Buhai, Director of the Department for Infrastructure and Technical Regulation of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers Natalia Kozlovska (by her consent), Advisor to the head of the Government of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak and Advisor to the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Olena Symonenko (by consent).
This decree comes into force on the day of its publication.
