The Georgian ambassador to Ukraine, who was recalled for consultations in May 2020 in connection with the situation related to former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, will be sent back to Kyiv in the near future.
The decision to bring the Georgian ambassador back to Kyiv will be made shortly, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said on the Rustavi 2 television channel on Saturday. “This is the wrong time and the wrong circumstance – tensions escalating around Ukraine – to not have our ambassador in place,” Zalkaliani said, adding that Georgia would seek dynamic development of relations with Ukraine.
“We have a lot of common challenges, bilateral relations have been affected, but we are a state and we act to the benefit of state interests,” Zalkaliani said, adding that Ukraine took Georgia’s decision to recall its ambassador with understanding.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry recalled Ambassador Teimuraz Sharashenidze from Kyiv for consultations in May 2020 after former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (2004-2013) was naturalized by Ukraine and took charge of the Executive Committee of Ukraine’s National Reform Council. Tbilisi explained its demarche with the appointment of a person convicted in Georgia to an official position in Ukraine in contradiction to the spirit of bilateral cooperation. In addition, the Georgian authorities repeatedly called Kyiv’s attention to the fact that Saakashvili kept interfering in Georgia’s internal affairs.
The new Ukrainian airline Bees Airline in April-June launches regular direct flights from Kyiv to Tbilisi, Batumi and Yerevan, as well as from Odesa to Yerevan.
According to the press service of Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport, in particular, Kyiv-Tbilisi-Kyiv flights will be launched from April 30 and will be operated on Tuesdays and Fridays, and from June 6 additionally on Sundays.
Kyiv-Batumi-Kyiv flights will be operated from June 9 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Kyiv-Yerevan-Kyiv flights will be launched from April 29 on Mondays and Thursdays.
Odesa-Yerevan-Odesa flights will start from June 14 on Mondays and Fridays.
In addition to Bees Airline, UIA and SkyUp also operate direct flights from Kyiv to Tbilisi, and SkyUp to Batumi. UIA also operates direct flights from Kyiv to Yerevan.
As reported, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine issued an operator certificate to Bees Airline on March 12, 2021. Later, the regulator allowed the company to operate flights on 31 routes – 15 regular and 16 charter.
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December 10, 09:30 – 11:00 GMT
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED:
Green Hydrogen is having a moment around the world. Now new players are entering the market:
The Georgian government has recently asked the EBRD to explore the country’s potential for generating green hydrogen which could then be blended and transported to end-users through existing gas pipelines.
Ukraine has the potential for substantial hydrogen production – it is estimated that approximately 505,133 million m3 of green hydrogen could be produced in Ukraine annually. Various hydrogen-related projects are starting to be unveiled in the country.
AMONG CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
– Aleksandr Riepkin, President, Ukrainian Hydrogen Council
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– David Managadze, Associate Director, Regional Head – Caucasus, Energy Eurasia, EBRD
– Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Secretary-General, Hydrogen Europe
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Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has said that, as soon as it becomes possible, she will pay a visit to Ukraine, as an earlier visit was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am prepared as soon as the time is right to pay a visit, which has long been postponed over COVID-19 and not only because of it. I will try to restore our relations on a basis that matches the traditionally friendly ties between our two countries,” Zourabichvili said at a press conference in Tbilisi on Friday.
Georgia and Ukraine are bound by a course toward integration into NATO and the European Union and by joint projects in the Black Sea with their European partners, and any attempts to weaken this partnership would negatively affect the European integration of both countries, she said.
At the same time, Zourabichvili mentioned recent remarks by Mikheil Saakashvili, a former Georgian president who currently serves as the head of the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reform Council, who has said he does not recognize the incumbent Georgian government as legitimate.
“A provocative tone addressed to the Georgian government by a foreign citizen working for a foreign government harms our bilateral relations,” Zourabichvili said.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador from Kyiv in May, after Saakashvili was appointed head of the National Reform Council’s Executive Committee.
Tbilisi interpreted Saakashvili’s negative remarks about the Georgian government as interference in Georgia’s internal affairs.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova with EUR 55 million through ProCredit Bank in the respective countries to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) within mitigating the effects of the economic shock, the EIB’s website reports.
“As part of the overall response to COVID-19, the operation will support the financial intermediaries with temporary emergency measures to facilitate the provision of liquidity to SMEs and midcaps and thereby contribute to mitigating the impact of the economic shock,” the report says.
ProCredit Bank in Ukraine was founded in 2001. At the beginning of 2020, its sole shareholder was ProCredit Holding (100% of the shares).
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of May 1, 2020 ProCredit Bank ranked 14th among 75 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets (UAH 25.646 billion).
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) plans to resume flights to Georgia and Albania from July 1, 2020, and to other countries stipulated by the schedule before lockdown is introduced from July 15, if cancellation of entry bans is carried out according to preliminary arrangements between countries.
According to the company’s press release on Saturday, June 20, passengers are advised to review the requirements for entering the country of destination and the rules for returning to Ukraine before purchasing a ticket, as well as make sure that they have all the necessary approvals for the trip.
“If a passenger purchases a ticket to a country, rules of entry into which the passenger cannot comply with, the refund for an unused air ticket will be carried out according to the fare, but can last up to six months,” SkyUp said.
According to the airline’s data, since March 2020, SkyUp Airlines has received about 286,000 applications regarding compensation for tickets that were not used through the flight ban. However, passengers have already received EUR 13,186 and UAH 1.9 million of reimbursements, while some 4,700 passengers have issued promotional codes for a total of UAH 38.1 million.
The company also said that since the beginning of lockdown, their support service has been operating in the overloaded mode, that is, during all that time up to 13,000 applications were received daily. Therefore, due to the fact that it was physically impossible to process all of them within the period of three to five days, as under normal conditions, the time for feedback increased.
In order to resolve this issue, SkyUp is introducing the application processing automated system. This means that the passenger, after registering on the airline’s website in a personal online account, will be able to independently choose the type of reimbursement that suits him, and passengers who have previously applied for a refund, according to their wish, change the status of the application for a promotional code or transfer dates if, on a previously submitted application, a refund invoice has not been issued yet. Functionality will be available approximately in three weeks.
“The introduction of lockdown at the international level significantly affected the aviation in general, and SkyUp is no exception in this global crisis of air transportation. For us and for many airlines as well, that period made it impossible to fully perform operational activities. Therefore, we have neither the opportunity nor the economic means in order to immediately refund to all people who made the request. We understand the wish of passengers to return their funds as soon as possible. Now we need to be patient, because this process will take longer than usual. We will return the funds gradually,” the airline’s press service said, citing Director General of SkyUp Airlines Yevhen Khainatsky.
