The new Ambassador of France to Ukraine, Etienne de Poncins, has arrived in Kyiv. “I’ve safely arrived in Kyiv. My mission as the head of the French Embassy in Ukraine may begin,” the diplomat wrote on Twitter.
Etienne de Poncins was appointed Ambassador of France to Ukraine on July 24. Prior to that, he worked as an inspector of the French Foreign Ministry, and in the European External Action Service, and was also the French ambassador to Kenya and Bulgaria.
The previous Ambassador of France to Ukraine, Isabelle Dumont, completed her work in Ukraine on July 27.
PJSC Energomashspetsstal (EMSS, Donetsk region) will produce rolls for a hot-rolling mill of ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer (France) in 2020, an enterprise said in its press release.
The rolls, with a total weight of 105 tonnes meant for production of a steel sheet from two to ten millimeters thick, will be offloaded to the customer in the second quarter of 2020 under the conditions of the agreement signed in July 2019.
Russia’s Atomenergomash of Rosatom Corporation is an owner of the EMSS.
It is the largest Ukrainian producer of special cast and forged products for individual and small-scale production for metallurgy, shipbuilding, energy (wind, steam, hydro, nuclear) and general engineering.
Fos-sur-mer is the second ArcelorMittal steel mill in France that is a part of ArcelorMittal Méditerranée steel construction producer.
ArcelorMittal and Energomashspetsstal have been cooperating since 2011.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will pay an official visit to France on June 17 and to Germany on June 18, the Presidential Administration has reported.
“The program of the visits envisages meetings of the head of state with the leadership of France and Germany, the heads of parliaments, as well as with leading French and German business representatives,” the administration said on its Facebook page on Thursday.
The Verkhovna Rada has ratified an agreement between the governments of Ukraine and France regarding the official support of a project on supply of drinking water to the city of Mariupol (Donetsk region). An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that a total of 258 lawmakers backed the agreement. According to the Framework Agreement, the French side provides Ukraine with a loan in an amount not exceeding EUR 64 million for the project on supply of drinking water to Mariupol.
The agreement also provides for the development of a master plan for improving the water supply and drainage system of Mariupol until 2040.
According to an explanatory note to the bill on ratification, the project will include the construction and launch of modern filtering stations in Mariupol, as well as the modernization of the existing centralized water supply pipelines and drainage system to reduce the consumption of drinking water and discharge of sewage into the environment.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance of France has allocated a grant of EUR 560,000 to Ukraine to finance a joint project of Ukrenergo and RTE International for the implementation of Ukraine’s first energy storage system, the press service of the Ukrainian company has reported. According to its data, in the next six months, RTE International plans to implement the first phase of the project: a feasibility study and technical assignments for further work. At the second stage, the possible cost will be determined, a model of the future storage system and a roadmap will be created with a list of all necessary measures for the implementation of the joint project.
Ukrenergo notes that the project is of a great importance for the future development of the Ukrainian energy sector and the integration of the domestic energy system into the energy system of continental Europe, since one of the requirements is to ensure the required amount of primary frequency control.
In addition, over the past few years, there has been an increase in wind and solar power generation in Ukraine, which will require the construction of additional highly maneuverable capacities that meet the environmental requirements of European countries.
“The start of cooperation with RTE, the leading player in the European market, the implementation of a complicated and innovative energy storage project is a significant step towards our European integration and the strengthening of Ukraine’s energy security,” Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk said.
Ukraine and France plan to create a joint meteocluster for agriculture, the press service of the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry has reported. “We are planning to create a joint meteocluster for agriculture and assistance to farmers. This is about bringing new technologies to the processing of meteorological data. This is necessary to obtain more accurate weather data, increase harvest and crop protection, introduce system monitoring of climate change and further modeling,” Deputy Prime Minister, Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko said.
According to the report, the Ukrainian-French intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation came to the relevant agreements.
According to the press service of the ministry, the representatives of the countries also agreed on attracting French companies to the development of Ukrainian farms, investments in seed production, and on strengthening cooperation in animal husbandry, in particular, in the dairy sector.
In addition, the countries plan to develop cooperation in IT and cybersecurity, and French companies will take part in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, as well as in public procurement through the ProZorro e-procurement system.
