Exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU countries grew by 34.3% in January-July 2019 year-over-year, to $4.1 billion, former acting Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food of Ukraine Olha Trofimtseva has said. “The export of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU for the seven months of 2019 increased 34.3% (or $1.04 billion), to $4.1 billion compared to the same period in 2018,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
The main products in the export structure to the EU are cereals – $1.8 billion, vegetable oils – $921.9 million, oilseeds – $385.4 million, bagasse and other food waste – $345.5 million, poultry – $117.3 million, fruits, nuts and zest – $78.6 million.
The share of the Netherlands in the trade between Ukraine and the EU countries was 18%, Spain’s – 13.5%, Poland’s – 13.4%, Germany’s – 11.1%, and Italy’s – 10.6%.
Trofimtseva said that as of September 2, 2019, Ukraine had fully used the EU tariff import quotas for honey, sugar, barley groats and flour, processed starch, preserved tomatoes, grape and apple juices, corn and wheat. The quota was used for butter by 48%, and for processed milk products – by 33.3%.
President of Ukraine accepted credentials from ambassadors of a number of foreign states: the Republic of Korea – Chang-Kwon Chi, the South African Republic – Andre Johannes Groenewald, the Republic of Slovenia – Tomaz Menzin, the Federal Republic of Germany – Anka Feldhusen, the Republic of Finland – Päivi Maarit Laine. During the conversation with Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ukraine Chang-Kwon Chi, the parties discussed issues of strengthening political dialogue at the highest level between Ukraine and South Korea as well as prospects of trade, economic and investment cooperation, the presidential press service said on Wednesday.
“The issue of introducing a visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens was discussed, which would facilitate the development of interpersonal contacts,” it says.
The president invited President of the Republic of Korea Mun Zhe Ying to visit Ukraine.
During the conversation with new Ambassador of the South African Republic to Ukraine Andre Johannes Groenewald, the president of Ukraine emphasized the importance of strengthening political dialogue.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine considers the South African Republic as a prospective partner in Africa and is focused on more intensive cooperation in all spheres.
“Special attention was paid to the discussion of trade and economic cooperation, in particular prospects of Ukrainian-South African business forum which would be held this year,” the message reads.
President of Ukraine spoke out about the establishment of closer and constructive bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and the Republic of South Africa within the framework of its non-permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council.
The president of Ukraine also invited President of the Republic of South Africa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa to visit Ukraine in the framework of the official visit.
The president thanked Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Ukraine Päivi Maarit Laine for consistent support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as the substantial humanitarian and expert assistance provided by Helsinki to Ukraine at the bilateral level. Particular attention was paid to the practical assistance provided by Finland in implementing systemic reforms, in particular in the field of school education and energy efficiency.
During the conversation with Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Ukraine Tomaz Menzin the president of Ukraine thanked Slove nia for the consistent political support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Zelensky appreciated the assistance of Slovenia in promoting the rehabilitation of 400 children from Ukraine whose parents had died as a result of Russian aggression.
During the conversation with Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Anka Feldhusen the head of state thanked the German side for the continued support of Ukraine in countering Russian aggression, as well as substantial financial and technical assistance to facilitate the process of structural reforms in Ukraine.
“During the meeting, the main focus was on discussing the security situation in Donbas and a set of further steps to revitalize the peace process. The importance of continuing international pressure on the Russian Federation to ensure its implementation of the decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was emphasized,” the presidential website says.
President of Ukraine also expressed hopes for the preservation of the traditionally active political dialogue at the highest level in the future.
In addition, the parties discussed the issue of involving German business representatives to work in Ukraine and the creation of joint enterprises.
AMBASSADORS, CREDENTIALS, FINLAND, GERMANY, KOREA, PRESIDENT, SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Tino Zeiske, who previously held the position of Global Director for Talent Management and Recruitment at Metro AG (headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany), has been appointed new CEO of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine LLC (Metro C&C, Kyiv).
“Tino Zeiske will be the new CEO of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine from October 1, 2019, or earlier, depending on the time frame for obtaining a work permit,” the retailer’s press service said.
Olivier Langlet, who has held the post of CEO at METRO Cash and Carry Ukraine, since April 2019, has been appointed CEO of MAKRO Cash & Carry (the Czech Republic) within Metro AG, it said.
“From October 1, 2019, Olivier will be fully responsible for the activities of MAKRO, the Czech Republic,” it said.
METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine was founded in 2003. It consists of 23 METRO shopping centers in the largest cities of Ukraine, namely Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Lviv, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Kryvy Rih, Mariupol, Zaporizhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa and Mykolaiv, and also two wholesale outlets in Ternopil and Lutsk.
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 Ukrainian company SolarGaps, which developed blinds with integrated solar panels, has won The Smarter E AWARD 2019 tender for energy transition solutions in Munich, the press service of the public organization Greencubator has reported.
The project won the nomination Smart Renewable Energy in the tender of the innovation hub The Smarter E, whose activities are aimed at the development of industry solutions.
Earlier, SolarGaps won the Climate Innovation Vouchers program of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and also received EUR1 million from the European Union’s framework program for the development of research and technology Horizon 2020.
Energy transition is transformations in the energy sector aimed at reducing the share of consumption of fossil fuels.
The flow of health tourists from Ukraine to Germany grows by some 15-20% every year, and the sharp growth was seen after the introduction of visa-free regime, Director of DeutschMedic GmbH Anna Weegen (Essen, Germany) has told Interfax-Ukraine. “In 2019, it will be the 21st year, as I organize the arrival of patients from the countries of the former USSR for treatment in Germany. According to my observations and according to the press, the flow from Ukraine is increasing annually by 15-20%. A significant jump occurred after the abolition of the entry visas to the countries of the Schengen legislation of the European Union for holders of Ukrainian biometric passports, “she said.
The cheapening of air links between Ukraine and Germany contributes to the increase in the flow of medical tourists, according to the expert. Weegen said that foreign patients can receive almost all the services that modern medicine has in its arsenal in German hospitals, with the exception of only legally regulated features in transplantation and artificial insemination.
In particular, for patients from Ukraine, requests for treatment of oncology are currently the most relevant. Neurology is second, outperforming traditionally high-demand cardiac interventions (electrophysiology, stenting, valve replacement, and aortocoronary shunting), orthopedics is in fourth place, including total joint replacement.
“Practically each of the patients who receive medical services in the above-mentioned disciplines necessarily uses the services of related specialists, and at the end of the treatment – some types of rehabilitation,” the expert said, noting the growing popularity of preventive annual check-ups.
Weegen said that currently there are no legislative acts in Germany prescribing medical institutions to report to any authorities on the number of foreign patients. However, those institutions that have not some foreign patients, “but dozens and hundreds, keep their own internal statistics, which is sometimes shared with the press or economic authorities.”
“In Germany there are almost 2,000 hospitals with a total fund of about 500,000 beds, and 20 million inpatients per year. At the same time, there are hospitals where there have never been foreign patients, but in some clinics the proportion of medical tourists can approach 10% of the total number of patients,” she said.
In this case, medical tourists receive not only inpatient, but also outpatient treatment in Germany, using the services of medical practices, which in Germany are more than 75,000.
“Many foreign patients receive outpatient services in clinics where statistics is not collected by anyone. The same applies to numerous sanatoriums, rehabilitation centers, prosthetic institutes and other institutions,” she said.
According to Weegen, in the coming years, medical tourists will come to Germany, mainly to receive high-tech medical care, in particular, complex surgical or catheter interventions, robot-assisted surgeries, radiation, that is, all that domestic medicine, due to the high cost of technology, has not yet implemented everywhere.”
At the same time, according to the expert, “primary diagnosis is made in the country of residence,” and the patient receives the second opinion in Germany. Then the patient has a surgery in the country of residence. He or she comes to Germany for radiation and chemotherapy, and then continues chemotherapy at the place of residence.
“This approach saves the patient’s time and money and gives him or her access to all the achievements of medical progress without a complete separation from the domestic system,” she said.
Weegen said that the share of health care in Germany is about 11% of GDP, and the share of medical tourism in health care is less than 0.04% of GDP.
According to Weegen, according to very rough estimates, approximately 250,000 foreign patients are treated in Germany annually. At the same time, about half of all medical tourists come from the countries of the former USSR.
