Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak discussed with diplomats the implementation of Ukraine’s Peace Formula, the press service of the Office of the President has said.
More than 70 representatives of foreign states took part on the seventh meeting on the issue dedicated to the Food Security item of the formula that took place in the territory of a bread company in Kyiv region. The enterprise was hit by one of Russia’s missile attacks last year.
Yermak said that in Africa alone 32 countries depend on Ukrainian grain export. He thanked the partners for ensuring the operation of the grain corridor in the Black Sea and for their support for the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian initiative proposed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which is aimed at delivering grain to the most vulnerable African countries.
“We understand how important it is to help people on other countries that also suffer from the war and the same aggressor as the citizens of Ukraine,” Yermak said.
He thanked the foreign diplomats for their active involvement in the working groups on each of the items of the Peace Formula. Yermak recalled that the working groups are preparing the framework documents on each item of the formula that will contain detailed steps for the restoration of fair and sustainable peace in Ukraine and will be universal for any country.
According to Yermak, joint developments of the working groups will be used as a basis for the upcoming third meeting at the level of national security advisors. The decisions developed during these consultations will be submitted for consideration to the heads of states and governments at the Global Peace Summit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has voiced the main tasks for diplomats for the next year, in particular, negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU and preparations for the NATO summit.
“There are specific tasks for you and me for the next year. I will outline some of them that we have to implement to make next year a really winning year for all of us. So, the beginning of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Preparing for the planned NATO summit and ensuring concrete results of that summit for Ukraine, which we all know about,” Zelensky said at the Ukrainian ambassadors’ conference on Friday.
He noted that all ambassadors will be presented with updated defense and security needs, and called for constant work to ensure those needs are met.
“Ukrainian energy and our country’s needs to recover from Russian strikes, Fast Recovery Plan – please work as closely as possible with the government, with the Office, international organizations and partner states to ensure that all these arrangements are provided with concrete content and result,” the president said.
Zelensky also called for strong new sanctions packages against Russia for next year.
“The terrorist state must feel real pressure, and it is your actions – the actions of our diplomatic corps – that must be aimed at. Court for the crime of aggression and the responsibility of war criminals – work so that the countries of your stay support us,” the head of state stressed.
In addition, he noted the need to block Russian assets associated not only with state representatives, but also with Russian business supporting the war.
“All these funds will be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Do everything so that the countries where you work, help to build an appropriate compensatory effective mechanism,” he said.
Zelensky called on diplomats to facilitate the return of Ukrainians to their homeland so that all their rights and legitimate interests in host countries are satisfied.
The government would make the promotion of Ukrainian exported goods one of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of Ukrainian diplomats, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said. “We are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to slightly change the focus of the diplomatic service of Ukraine abroad. We will focus our diplomats on promoting Ukrainian exports. This is such a kind of reform. Promoting Ukrainian exports to global markets will become one of the KPIs of Ukrainian diplomats. Another KPI may be to attract investment in the country. From [Ukraine] export [is going], outside [the country] investment [is coming], and import will come into Ukraine with the help of efforts of diplomats of other states,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
As for internal investments, the prime minister said that in the existing conditions, he would “localize himself and engage in economic and investment nationalism, in the good sense of the word, and invest in Ukraine.”In his opinion, the country has very good conditions for investment, as well as a good margin in certain sectors in terms of economic opportunities.
“Therefore, one needs to invest at home, develop local production, improve quality and then go outside with export,” Shmyhal said.
