Ukraine has started preparations for negotiations on new agreements on a free trade area (FTA) with Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia and China, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko has said.
“Preparations are underway for negotiations on an FTA with Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia and China,” he said during a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He also said Ukraine has started negotiations with the EU on revising the Association Agreement.
Petrashko said the additional capitalization of the Export Credit Agency (ECA) to UAH 2 billion, which is provided by the 2021 national budget, will strengthen Ukraine’s export positions
According to preliminary information, there were no Ukrainian citizens on board the Sriwijaya Air passenger plane that crashed in Indonesia on Saturday, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said.
“According to preliminary information from the Ukrainian Embassy in Indonesia and Sriwijaya Air, there were no Ukrainians on board the SJ182 flight, which crashed near Jakarta,” Nikolenko wrote on his Twitter page.
The Sriwijaya Air passenger plane, which took off Saturday from the Indonesian capital Jakarta, crashed north of it into the Java Sea, official Chinese media reported.
According to a statement by the captain of the coast guard ship Trisula, the sailors found aircraft wreckage and body fragments. Life jackets and spilled aviation fuel were also seen on the water.
Earlier, the Indonesian authorities said that dispatchers had lost contact with a Sriwijaya Air passenger plane, which flew from the capital of Jakarta to Pontianak on Kalimantan island.
There were 62 people on board the Boeing 737-500, including six children.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a draft agreement with the government of the Republic of Indonesia on the mutual cancellation of visa requirements.
The corresponding decision was made at a government meeting on Wednesday.
The draft agreement provides for the possibility of visa-free travel by citizens of the countries of the parties for up to 30 days during each visit of Ukrainian citizens to Indonesia and for up to 30 days within 60 days for travel of Indonesian citizens to Ukraine.
The Solway Investment Group international investment group, owning Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant (PFP, Kirovohrad region), has stopped supplying nickel ore to Ukraine from Indonesia due to the export ban of this state.
“At the moment, we do not supply ore from Indonesia to Ukraine. The Solway Group is developing two ferronickel projects in Indonesia, and they provide the most modern waste disposal and closed water supply technologies,” the company said in response to a request from Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, they said that “regarding PFP, we inform you: the plant is fully provided, operates at full capacity and in the long term there are/are being worked out various options for providing high-quality raw materials.”
PFP processes about 1.5 million tonnes of ore per year, which was previously supplied from Guatemala (about 45% of supplies in monetary terms) and Indonesia (55%).
Indonesia announced the introduction of a ban on the export of nickel ore, first from October 28, 2019, then from January 1, 2020.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has held a phone conversation with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi to discuss the development of mutual trade between the countries.
“Dmytro Kuleba said that Indonesia is an important partner of Ukraine in Southeast Asia and one of the region’s leaders. In this context, he pointed out the growth of bilateral trade, which exceeded $1 billion at the end of last year. The ministers agreed to join their efforts for the further development of trade between the countries,” the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said on Monday.
Kuleba said that Ukraine aspires to build closer political cooperation with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The Ukrainian minister also thanked Indonesia for the decision to not impose sanctions on Ukrainian citizens who were unable to leave the country due to the suspension of flights, although their documents for stay in Indonesia have expired.
He also said that Ukraine is ready to welcome Indonesian president in Kyiv and invited the country’s foreign minister to visit Ukraine at any convenient time.
Exports of grain crops in the 2017/2018 marketing year (July 2017 through June 2018) totaled 39.4 million tonnes and amounted to $6.4 billion, according to the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine. The largest buyers of Ukrainian grain in this period were Egypt ($ 724 million, with a share of 11.4%), China ($594 million, 9.3%), Spain ($459 million, 7.2%), Indonesia ($375 million, 5.9%) and the Netherlands ($348 million, 5.5%).
In particular, Ukraine exported 17.8 million tonnes of maize worth $2.86 billion (China’s share was 16.4%, Egypt accounted for 13.6%, and the Netherlands for 12.2%). Exports of wheat totaled 17.2 million tonnes worth $2.83 billion (Indonesia with 13.3%, Egypt with 11.8%, and Bangladesh with8.7%); while exports of barley stood at 4.3 million tonnes worth $0.64 billion (Saudi Arabia with 41.2%, China with 19.3%, and Libya with 6.6%).
As noted, 99% of all grain was shipped by sea (39 million tonnes). The ports of Chornomorsk (formerly Illichivsk) accounted for 22% of all grain shipments by sea, the port of Odesa accounted for 19%, Yuzhny for 19%, and Mykolaiv for 18%. At the same time, 306,000 tonnes (0.8%) was exported by rail and almost 80,000 tonnes (0.2%) by road.
Ukraine in the 2016/2017 marketing year exported 43.8 million tonnes of grain, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food earlier reported.
