Germany reaffirms its readiness to support Ukraine for as long as necessary, and is ready to hold an annual conference on the reconstruction of the country in 2024, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
“Our goal is a peaceful Ukraine that will live in prosperity,” he said at the conclusion of the International Expert Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine in Berlin on Tuesday.
Scholz recalled that the URC was hosted by Swiss Lugano in 2022 (and Lithuanian Vilnius in 2021), and next year it will be held in the UK.
The Prime Minister of Japan, who will take over the G7 presidency next year, Fumio Kishida, in his video address to the conference in Berlin, stressed that Ukraine will remain in the spotlight, and Japan will make efforts to set the framework for a transparent and fair process of rebuilding the country based on desires. and aspirations of its people.
Also, the President of this country, Joko Widodo, announced the important position of Ukraine on the agenda of the upcoming G20 summit in Indonesia in November. According to him, the highest priority is diplomacy for the sake of peace and the end of the war.
The head of Indonesia called for a constructive dialogue for the sake of peace at the upcoming summit, including the parties “standing on different sides”, at the same time recalling the military assistance allocated to Ukraine and the commitments made by Jakarta to restore Ukrainian hospitals.
The energy crisis and inflation are creating serious problems for restaurants and hotels in Germany, to reduce increased costs, entrepreneurs are introducing additional fees for electricity and heating, according to Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland (RND).
“Rising energy costs are making it difficult for the hospitality industry. Some hotels expect to spend an additional €200,000 on heat and electricity every year. To cover these costs, more hotels and restaurants are introducing a flat energy rate of €3.9 per night. This is intended to offset at least some of the extra costs.
As the portal notes, one of these hotels is the five-star Bareiss in Bairsbronn in Baden-Württemberg. From September, the hotel charges 9 euros more per person per night, and also reserves the right to raise the rate further.
According to hoteliers, accommodations are heavily dependent on gas and electricity, so energy costs are rising exponentially. In addition, the business began to spend more on the salaries of employees.
In turn, at The Hearts Hotel boutique hotel in the Braunlage resort in Lower Saxony, each guest currently pays an additional 3 euros per day for electricity.
According to forecasts by the chairman of the German Association of Hotels and Restaurants (Dehoga) Axel Strehl, a similar problem will affect about 10% of accommodation in Germany.
According to RND, a similar situation is developing in restaurants in Germany. So, each visitor to the Zum Grünen Hof restaurant near Bremen must pay an additional 1.5 euros. At the same time, according to the owner, the visitors supported the businessman and are ready to pay even more if it helps to keep the establishment running.
The command of the armed forces of Germany, as part of the planned EU mission to train Ukrainian military personnel, intends to accept 5,000 Ukrainian military personnel for training, Ntv reported on Sunday.
According to the channel, recruits will participate in basic training as part of the EU mission, while more experienced soldiers will receive special training. In particular, in the Bundeswehr, the Ukrainian military will be trained in the use of the Iris-T air defense system, the first installation of which, according to German media, Berlin has already transferred to Kyiv.
In total, the EU mission plans to train 15,000 Ukrainian military personnel.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said that at the moment she considers it more important to supply Ukraine with air defense systems, rather than tanks.
Earlier, a senior European official told reporters on condition of anonymity that a decision on the EU mission to train Ukrainian military personnel is expected to be made at a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday in Luxembourg. According to him, the EU is preparing a mission, which should start functioning in mid-November. “We will train 12 thousand people and another 2.8 thousand will receive specialized training,” the official said.
The two-year mission mandate trainees will include both new recruits and experienced military personnel. There is a need for basic training and special training, the official explained.
Six vessels carrying nearly 154,000 tonnes of foods departed from Ukrainian ports on Thursday after receiving approval from the Joint Coordination Center (JCC).
“The Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reports that six vessels left Ukrainian ports today [on October 13] carrying a total of 153,505 metric tonnes of grain and other foods under the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the center said.
In particular, the Wei He vessel is heading to China with 62,860 tonnes of sunflower meal on board, the Marlen bulker is carrying 33,000 tonnes of sunflower oil to Iraq, the Irmgard is carrying 30,817 tonnes of rapeseed to Germany, and the Ak Hamza is carrying 7,000 tonnes of corn to Lebanon.
Another two vessels – the Dignity (14,000 tonnes of corn) and the Yaf S (5,828 tonnes of wheat) – are bound for Turkey.
“Grains that reach a destination may go through processing and be transshipped to other countries,” the JCC said.
“As of October 13, the total tonnage of grain and other foodstuffs exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 7,363,704 metric tonnes. A total of 666 voyages (335 inbound and 331 outbound) have been enabled so far,” the center said.
The United Nations, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed a document in Istanbul on July 22 on opening a corridor to export grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhny.
CHINA, GERMANY, IRAQ, LEBANON, TURKEY, Ukrainian foods, VESSELS
German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock told her Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau that Berlin would not pay reparations for World War II to Poland under any circumstances, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
“The question of reparations, as you know, from the point of view of the German authorities, is closed,” Burbock said during a press conference in Warsaw. The conference took place after ministerial talks on the subject.
In turn, Rau expressed the hope that Germany’s position could change.
On Monday, the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry sent a note to Germany, which requested about $1.3 trillion in reparations for material and other damage that Germany inflicted on Poland during the occupation in 1939-1945.
German authorities believe that the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines will permanently fail if they are not quickly repaired, Tagesspiegel reported on Wednesday, citing sources in the German government.
“If the gas pipelines are not quickly repaired, a lot of sea water will get into them, and the pipelines will corrode,” the newspaper notes.
After the incident with gas pipelines, the German authorities intend to strengthen control over the movement of ships in their territorial waters. Berlin also intends to pay more attention to the protection of critical infrastructure, coastal areas of the country, terminals under construction for receiving liquefied natural gas and telecommunications cables passing under water.
As reported, on the night of September 26, a leak occurred on one of the lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. It happened in the Danish exclusive economic zone southeast of Bornholm. Also, gas leaks were recorded from both lines of the first Nord Stream northeast of Bornholm.
According to the Tagesspiegel, the German Federal Intelligence Service and state security agencies suspect that sabotage was the cause of the incident.
