The United States announced that it will provide $155 million in additional development funding to Ukraine through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve the lives of the Ukrainian people, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said on Tuesday.
“The additional resources will be used to address key development challenges in Ukraine, including: support economic growth and improve health of Ukrainians some $34 million; enhance anti-corruption efforts some $14 million; counter Russian aggression some $63 million; strengthen democracy and governance some $44 million,” the embassy said in the statement.
The first article provides support of Ukraine’s recovery from coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by improving essential health services; improvement of transparency and expansion of economic opportunities in energy, agriculture and finance to increase investor confidence, attract investment and improve economic investment in the agrarian sector.
Enhancing anti-corruption measures includes strengthening reforms and safeguard anti-corruption institutions to counter entrenched interests and ensure all of Ukraine’s resources benefit the Ukrainian people; reducing corrupt practices in the health sector and facilitate Ukraine’s purchases of vital medicines to reduce informal payments by patients and provide access to less expensive, quality medicines; supporting the continued development of online e-government platforms that simplify access to services and streamline how Ukrainians receive their pensions, unemployment benefits, and more.
Countering Russian aggression are planned to be used to human rights and ensure access to justice for the Ukrainians affected by Kremlin-backed aggression in the Crimea and Donbas; reduce Ukraine’s energy and economic dependence on Russia by advancing connections to Europe’s energy grid and strengthening businesses in the East; expand citizen access to high-quality, unbiased information to counter malign influence and disinformation, support European integration, and strengthen democratic processes.
Strengthening democracy and governance involves expanding judicial reform; strengthening consolidated communities and expand quality service provision to their residents to advance Ukraine’s decentralization reform efforts; encouraging youth leadership and innovation.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about the importance of intensive development of tourism between Ukraine and Turkey.
“It is very important that we, [Erdogan] and I are talking about special conditions for Ukrainian and Turkish tourists, citizens. We talked about the need to really increase the level of tourism for Ukrainians and Turkish citizens. This is very important. I think especially now we have to support each other,” Zelensky said following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on Thursday, April 15.
“Erdogan supports our independence, our sovereignty. You heard that Russia said it would restrict tourists or tourism from the Russian Federation to Turkey. It’s their business. And I think that, on the contrary, we need to increase and show that we support Turkey,” Zelensky said.
Also, according to Zelensky, during a meeting with Erdogan in Turkey on April 10, “a number of important documents were signed between Ukraine and Turkey, but support for Ukrainian sovereignty is much more important.”
“But the most important thing today, when we talk about the geopolitical issue, the issue of peace in Ukraine and the support of our partners, it is important that President Erdogan supports Ukraine, supports our temporarily occupied territories, supports Crimea. It is important that he supports our position: he does not recognize annexation of Crimea,” the head of state said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal, where the sides discussed the development of green metallurgy and increased investment in Ukraine, taking into account environmental characteristics due to international standards. According to the presidential press service on Wednesday, the company, as the largest foreign investor in Ukraine and one of the largest steel producers in the world, will launch the Steel Billion investment program in our country, which provides for investments of almost $1 billion in the ecological modernization of steel production in Kryvy Rih.
“Investments in the Ukrainian economy and the environment are a positive signal for all investors, to whom we will provide comprehensive support,” Zelensky said.
He also pointed out the need to finish the modernization of coke-chemical, sinter and blast-furnace production as soon as possible, which are the largest pollutants. The company confirmed its readiness to complete this program by the end of 2023.
The meeting was attended by First Assistant to the President Serhiy Shefir; Deputy Heads of the President’s Office Ihor Zhovkva and Yulia Svyrydenko; Director of JSC Helios Rostyslav Shurma; CEO of ArcelorMittal CIS Vijay Goyal; CEO of JSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih Mauro Longobardo.
Mix Line LLC (Chornomorsk, Odesa region), which organizes cargo transportation, can buy shares of Odesa Airport Development LLC (Kyiv), which will provide the buyer with over 25% of the voting shares on the company’s board.
According to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), it provided Mix Line LLC with the appropriate permissions on February 4.
The founder of Mix Line LLC is Liudmyla Shinkarenko. She is also the founder of Agro-Aldmish LLC and Phoenix Security Agency LLC.
As reported, in 2011, the disposal of municipal property of Odesa International Airport took place in favor of economic entities. The alienation took place as a result of the creation by Odesa City Council and Odesa Airport Development, the beneficial owners of which at that time were known local Odesa entrepreneurs Borys Kaufman and Oleksandr Hranovsky, of Odesa International Airport LLC, in whose charter capital the property of municipal enterprise Odesa International Airport was transferred. At the same time, the city’s share in the newly created company was only 25%.
The EU intends to provide Ukraine with EUR 20 million of financial support for the digital transformation development, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said.
“EUR 9.6 million is the first financial contribution that Ukraine will receive under the EU4DigitalUA project. The Estonia’s e-Governance Academy and the Spanish foundation FIIAPP Spain will help in the implementation of projects on electronic services, cybersecurity, data protection, and the development of registries,” Fedorov wrote on the Facebook.
He wrote that funding will also cover: development of infrastructure for electronic government; modernization of public e-services and development of services on the Diia (Action) portal and in the Dia app; visualization of information about access to broadband Internet in Ukraine; further connection of the main registers to the Trembita data exchange system; development of a national personal identifier, a state digital identity card and a register registration addresses of citizens; development of trust services.
“Support of digitalization in Ukraine is at the same time support of all key reforms and anti-corruption. The country will receive more qualitative changes. We are grateful to the EU for their trust and we act together,” Fedorov wrote.
The number of requests from Lithuanian enterprises for business development in Ukraine, search for new partners has increased, Ambassador of Lithuania to Ukraine Valdemaras Sarapinas has said.
“From our own experience, we can say that now we see an increase in requests from Lithuanian enterprises for business development in Ukraine, searching for new partners. By the way, the same can be said about Ukrainian enterprises. We observe especially great potential in the introduction of electronic services, as Lithuania has vast experience in this area and is ready to share it with Ukraine,” Sarapinas told Interfax-Ukraine.
He also said that a reduction in the supply chain can also reveal new opportunities for both Lithuania and Ukraine.
“Lithuania can also become an excellent platform from which Ukrainian enterprises can significantly increase their exports to the West. By way of example, I can cite Kormotech company, which moved part of its activities to Lithuania, and this made it possible to take advantage of the EU financial policy and increase its competitiveness in Europe and other markets,” the diplomat said.
At the same time, Sarapinas said that Lithuanian business in Ukraine is faced with such problems as non-transparency of the judicial system, unequal conditions of competition, and administrative pressure on business.
“I am not a businessman, so I can only convey the position that I hear when communicating with our entrepreneurs: Lithuanian business, as, by the way, investors from other foreign countries or local Ukrainian entrepreneurs face the same problems, namely, the lack of transparency of the judicial system, different conditions of competition, administrative pressure on business. In the area of combating these problems, Lithuania and other Western partners are ready to share their experience,” he said.
The ambassador also said that there are several large Lithuanian companies that are now planning investment projects in Ukraine, however, negotiations are underway on this matter.
“It was recently announced that the Novus retail chain, which is operated by the BT Invest investment company, is buying 35 Billa stores. This is the fairly large investment: according to market analysts, the deal is worth about EUR 65 million. There are also few more large Lithuanian companies that are now planning investment projects in Ukraine, however, now it would be better to refrain from commenting, since negotiations are underway,” he said.
