The timely reaction to the avian influenza outbreak in Ukraine allowed the country not to halt imports of poultry from the European Union (EU) and Ukrainian counts on uninterrupted authorization to export Ukrainian poultry to the EU, Deputy Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Minister, Ukraine’s Trade Representative Taras Kachka has said. “Over the past month, a number of EU Member States have recorded cases of avian influenza. But a timely decision on zoning and a well-functioning communication mechanism allowed Ukraine to not stop the import of poultry meat from the EU for this reason. Therefore, we immediately informed the competent authorities of the EU about the detected case of bird flu in Vinnytsia region,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
In addition, Ukraine has suspended certification of exporter capacity in a 30 km zone, while the EU sets requirements for the 10 km zone.
“All these measures are being taken to prove to the whole world that trust allows us to maintain trade in such sensitive situations,” Kachka said.
The deputy minister expects that in such conditions the EU will retain a permit for the import of poultry meat from Ukraine.
“If we were hostile to each other, the EU would have taken this opportunity and tried to close imports from Ukraine in general. This would trigger a chain mechanism of mutual restrictions. (Both sides want to avoid this scenario). In the meantime, we are actively cooperating with EU regulatory authorities so that the reaction is friendly and adequate,” Kachka said.
Ukraine delivered 248 tonnes of snails of its own production onto the European market in January-September 2019, while shipments of snails to the EU in the 12 months of 2018 totaled a mere 93 tonnes. The number of domestic enterprises eligible to supply snail products onto the EU market has increased over two years, the Ukrainian government said on its website on Wednesday.
“According to the results of the third quarter of this year, 17 enterprises received such license. In 2018, there were only five of them,” the Cabinet said.
The European Union has launched a project entitled “Support to Ukraine for Developing a Modern Public Health System” on December 12, the Public Health Center (PHC) reported. The project will help the government to implement public health reform in line with its obligations under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, reads the statement on the website of the PHC.
The experts will consult the Health Ministry of Ukraine, the PHC and the regional public health centers, help to draw up laws and regulations, analyze and implement the EU practices.
According to the statement, the project is aimed at streamlining the public health system in Ukraine with the EU practices, creating a sustainable epidemiology surveillance system to control contagious and non-contagious diseases and introducing the International Health Regulations to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease.
In addition, the project will provide support for reform of the blood donation service in Ukraine via the development of a modern blood safety system in line with the EU standards. The project will also help to improve the quality control system, create donor registers and unified standards for blood transfusion, promote voluntary blood donation and establish an independent competent agency in the sphere of blood safety.
The EU project “Support to Ukraine for Developing a Modern Public Health System” will be implemented from 2019 until 2022 by the GFA Consulting Group GmbH (GFA) in consortium with the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland (THL). The budget of the project is EUR 3 million.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has amended the Action Plan on Implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the press service of the Ukrainian government reported. “The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution amending the Action Plan on Implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. The updated plan takes into account the deepening of the Ukraine-EU bilateral relations and a series of decisions adopted by the bilateral bodies of the Association Agreement in recent years,” reads the statement.
The amended document actualizes, aligns and streamlines the objectives with the dynamically evolving EU legislation. The updated tasks are related to customs and financial policy; taxation, entrepreneurship, financial services and competition; justice, social and humanitarian issues; transport; energy economy and energy efficiency; digital sphere, science, technology and innovation; nature management and others.
It is expected that the government’s decision will accelerate Ukraine’s advancement towards the EU and make this process more transparent.
Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Ukraine Matti Maasikas is satisfied with the pace of improvement of the business climate in the country.
The new government and the new president have taken an obligation to improve business climate, he said at the Kyiv International Economic Forum on Friday, adding that there is significant progress in the legislative process seen in the parliament if to speak about the improvement of business environment and fight against corruption.
Maasikas called the achievement of the rule of law, the fight against corruption among the main problems that Ukraine should solve. At the same time, he said that he sees positive trends in this direction.
The dynamics are positive if we talk about the law on illegal enrichment, the ambassador said. In addition, there are other examples – the fight against money laundering, he added.
Private joint-stock company Farmak, a pharmaceutical company from Kyiv, is mulling a possibility of exporting own substances to the countries of the European Union (EU), Farmak Chief Operating Officer Pavlo Pavlyk has said.
“There are a number of projects with European companies. There are a number of orders. We are now looking at innovative substances in order to develop and produce them for the EU countries,” he told reporters on Monday.
Pavlyk also said that in May-June 2020, Farmak expects an FDA inspection, which will allow the company to supply drugs to the U.S. market.
Farmak is one of the three leaders of the pharmaceutical industry of Ukraine. It is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU). The company’s beneficiary is head of the supervisory board Filia Zhebrovska.
