Top 20 countries of Ukraine’s foreign trade partners for 11 months of 2019 (thousand Usd)
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has found manifestations of Ukrainian corruption in 65 countries, the press service of the NABU has reported. “Ukrainian corruption is traced in 65 countries. Most often, detectives have to seek help from law enforcement officials in Latvia, Cyprus, the U.K., Germany and Switzerland. For its part, the National Bureau also tries to respond promptly to requests received from foreign colleagues: 90% of them were satisfied,” the NABU said in a statement.
The NABU sent about 500 requests for international legal assistance to the competent authorities of other states. Of these, 118 were only in the second half of 2018, of which 52 were answered. The purpose of requests is to find out the circumstances of committing corruption offenses, as a result of which the interests of Ukraine were damaged.
NABU explained the need for international communication by the fact that the majority of corruption schemes provide for the participation of companies registered abroad. Typically, these companies play the role of intermediaries which leave the lion’s share of revenues of state-owned companies. In the future, the organizers of the schemes legalize these funds and spend them for their own needs, including for financing political projects.
Examples of criminal proceedings in the NABU, the investigation of which was led by detectives abroad, are: the embezzlement of UAH 247 million at state-owned enterprise (SOE) Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, causing a loss of $60.5 million to PJSC State Food and Grain Corporation. The NABU and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) estimated that, due to corruption involving foreign contractors, the state interests were damaged in the amount of about UAH 7 billion.
Ukraine is negotiating visa facilitation or the introduction of a visa-free regime with 22 countries, said Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.
“As of today, we are conducting negotiations and consultations on further simplifying the visa regime, or on visa free travel with 22 countries. In the near future, in just a few months, negotiations will begin with several more countries,” Klimkin said at a press conference.
The minister noted that today citizens of Ukraine can visit 86 countries of the world without visas, of which 34 need a biometric passport.
Of the remaining 112 states, there is a simplified entry [e-visa or visa upon arrival] in 54 countries, and one need to obtain a visa at diplomatic or consular offices in another 58 countries, the Ukrainian foreign minister noted.
Starting from January 1, 2019, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will be processing e-visas for nationals of 52 countries using an extended list of purposes for a visit to Ukraine. The department of the ministry’s consular service said in a post on Facebook that the list will include such purposes as business trips, private visits, tourist trips, trips for medical treatment, trips for carrying out activities in culture, science, education, and sports, as well as trips by foreign media journalists visiting Ukraine as part of their job.
The nationals of the following countries are entitled to apply for e-visas to Ukraine: Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Oman, Palau, Peru, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu,
The process of getting e-visas has remained as simple as possible. To obtain an e-visa, one needs to sign up at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s website at https://evisa.mfa.gov.ua/, fill out an application form there, upload a recent photograph and scanned copies of their documents (a passport, an invitation, etc.), and pay a consular fee online with a banking card. The issued e-visas will be sent to the applicants’ email addresses in a PDF format.
In order to be granted entry into Ukraine, foreign visitors will have to print out their granted e-visas and present them along with their valid passports to Ukrainian border guards upon arrival to Ukraine (e-visas are only valid for entry through international checkpoints on the Ukrainian state border).
E-visas are to be issued within nine working days. The consular fee is $85. The e-visas will be issued for a single trip lasting up to 30 days.
