The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine is working on the integration of Polish electronic documents into the Ukrainian system, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov said.
“We will now work to ensure that Polish electronic documents can be received and read in Ukraine,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
He noted that Ukraine and Poland are now gaining unique experience not only within their states, but also in the interstate data exchange.
“This is the first case when two states create such an interesting exchange of a new format with the sharing of documents from one mobile application to another. And this opens up great opportunities for us in the European Union, because now the direction of electronic documents in the EU is being studied, and we are involved in working groups that deal with these issues,” the minister said.
In turn, the Secretary of State for Digitalization, the Government Commissioner for Cyber Security of Poland, Janusz Cieszynski, noted that he believes in the digitality of the future, and said that the Ukrainian and Polish sides are considering the possibility of expanding cooperation.
Fedorov also thanked Tseshinskiy for his help with the free receipt of Starlink terminals by Ukraine, saying that Ukraine had already received 13,000 units. and another 5 thousand will be transferred in the near future. According to the minister, the Polish side also assumed obligations to support the operation of these terminals.
At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development noted that Ukraine needs at least another “half of the existing number” of Starlink terminals to ensure stable communications in wartime conditions.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that Ukraine is not only significantly expanding its export opportunities, but also continues to integrate as much as possible into European projects.
“We are not only significantly expanding our export opportunities, but also continuing to integrate as much as possible into European projects. This is very important on the way to our full membership in the EU,” Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Friday.
The prime minister said that on May 12, the European Commission announced the creation of “Solidarity Lanes,” a route that would speed up exports and the work of customs between Ukraine and the EU.
“In order to speed up logistics, the European Commission will also create a special platform for simplified border crossings across the solidarity lanes and encourage EU market participants to provide additional trucks and other transportation capacities,” he said.
In addition, Shmyhal said the European Commission had already decided to conclude an agreement with Ukraine and update the map of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
Ukraine from Monday, November 1, joined the Eurocontrol joint route charge system, which became the final stage of the incorporation of European practices in the field of air navigation and made it possible to introduce a European system of interaction in the air navigation sector in Ukraine, the press service of the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) has said.
“Ukrainian air navigation is now fully integrated into the pan-European system. The process that lasted 17 years has finally come to an end. It covered the large-scale adaptation of Ukrainian air navigation to modern world standards and technical procedures. This is a step forward to improve interaction between the state and business,” Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
According to him, the new system for setting rates and payments for air navigation services is transparent, understandable and convenient for airlines to use. At the same time, it becomes impossible to accumulate debts of air carriers for using UkSATSE services.
UkSATSE notes that now the collection of fees for air navigation services on the route in the airspace of Ukraine from Ukrainian and foreign airlines will be carried out through the Central Route Charges Office of Eurocontrol (CRCO).
“Technical integration gives concrete advantages to each participant of the aviation market. For airlines it is an open and standardized process of setting rates, their annual updating and convenient payment of bills. For UkSATSE it is a full coverage of its own expenses at the expense of rates and a guarantee of their full payment by airlines. For Ukraine – it is a certificate of the inflexibility of the European integration course in foreign policy,” Head of UkSATSE Andriy Yarmak said.
The gradual approximation of the regulatory environment and digital development of Ukraine to the level of the European Union as part of integration into the EU Digital Single Market will affect the productivity and economic growth of the country, according to a Tuesday statement on the website of the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
The study entitled “Ukraine’s integration into the EU Digital Single Market: potential economic benefits” was carried out by the Trade+ Center for International Trade Analysis at the Kyiv School of Economics and NGO Ukrainian Center for European Policy and was ordered by the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
The results of the study contain expert assessments and real calculations of the potential profit for the country’s economy from integration into the EU Digital Single Market.
According to the study, the gradual approximation of the regulatory environment and digital development of Ukraine to the EU level within the framework of integration into the EU Digital Single Market will influence bilateral trade: an increase in exports of goods from Ukraine to the EU is expected by 11.8%-17% ($2.4-3.4 billion), services – by 7.6%-12.2% ($302.5-485.5 million).
It will also impact the productivity and economic growth of Ukraine: GDP growth in Ukraine is expected at the level of 2.4-12.1% ($3.1-15.8 billion), the welfare of citizens – by 3.6-7.8%.
It is also expected that the export of goods from the EU to Ukraine will grow by 17.7-21.7% ($4.1-5 billion), and services by 5.7-9.1% to ($191-305 million).
According to the study, an increase in the level of digitalization by 1% will lead to an increase in Ukraine’s GDP by 0.42%.
“Various scenarios of integration into the EU Digital Single Market show that the size of potential benefits will depend on the scale of regulatory and digital transformations in Ukraine. The faster and more efficiently we implement the necessary transformations, the faster we will be able to realize the benefits of integration into the EU Digital Single Market,” Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration Valeria Ionan said.
According to the study, the main economic benefits for Ukraine from integration into the EU Digital Single Market are: reduction of transaction and trade costs in trade in goods and services between the EU and Ukraine; growth of business efficiency, economic productivity and GDP of Ukraine; growing well-being of citizens of Ukraine and the EU: better access and lower prices for digital innovative goods and services, consumer protection; development of innovative products and services of digital infrastructure.
In addition, bringing Ukraine’s legislation and standards closer to EU legislation and standards will reduce regulatory differences between Ukraine and the EU in the digital sphere and accelerate Ukraine’s digital development.
Ukraine and the European Union have agreed on further economic integration and regulatory convergence in a number of areas.
A joint statement by the leaders of Ukraine and the EU, adopted at the end of the summit in Brussels on Tuesday, says.
“We looked forward to further enhancing economic integration and regulatory approximation within the framework of the Association Agreement in the following fields: on digital, we took note of the on-site assessment of the implementation of Ukraine’s commitments in the AA/DCFTA. We also discussed the EU’s engagement in further supporting Ukraine and its institutions in approximation with and gradual implementation of the EU Digital Single Market acquis and institutional capacities, to fully benefit from the Association Agreement. We agreed to prepare by the end of 2020 a joint working plan for co-operation between EU and Ukraine on electronic trust services with a view to a possible agreement which must be based on approximation to the EU legislation and standards,” the statement reads.
The leaders welcomed progress on the update of the Annexes on telecommunication, environment, climate and financial cooperation of the Association Agreement. “Welcoming Ukraine’s ambition to approximate its policies and legislation with the European Green Deal, we stressed the importance of progress in Ukraine’s commitments in the areas of climate change, environment, marine ecosystem, education, energy, transport and agriculture, building on existing established sectoral dialogues, and agreed on a focused dialogue on the necessary steps in these areas,” the statements says.
In addition, they acknowledged the importance of fully complying with DCFTA commitments, notably in the areas of intellectual property rights, public procurement, trade defence, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards with a view to building an open and predictable business and investment climate in Ukraine. “We agreed to further discuss and review the ways to improve DCFTA implementation in order to further develop and facilitate bilateral trade,” the leaders said.
They also welcomed the launch of the pre-assessment on Ukraine’s preparedness on an Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products.
The EU also welcomed Ukraine’s willingness to associate to the incoming EU’s Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon Europe and EU4Health Programme, which will be a significant enabler for green and digital post-COVID recovery.
“We recalled the importance and reaffirmed our commitment to concluding the Common Aviation Area Agreement at the earliest possible date,” the statement notes.
What is more, the EU reaffirmed Ukraine’s role as a strategic transit country for gas and welcomed the agreement on gas transit to the EU after 2019. “We underlined the importance of pursuing the modernization of the Ukrainian national gas transmission system and further cooperation on strengthening European energy security. We stressed the importance of Ukraine’s cooperation with the EU, with a view to its integration with the EU energy market based on effective implementation of the updated Annex XXVII of the Association Agreement as well as coordination of further steps for the integration of gas and electricity markets,” it says.
The parties also agreed to improve connectivity between Ukraine, the EU and other countries of the Eastern Partnership with a view to facilitating trade, further developing safe and sustainable transport links and supporting people-to-people contacts.
“We welcomed the participation of Ukraine in EU programmes and underlined the importance of Erasmus+ for education, training, youth and sport and Creative Europe for culture. We looked forward to intensifying the relevant cooperation in the framework of current and future programmes,” the leaders said.
Some 46.1% of Ukrainians believe that the country should strive to join the European Union, 13.1% in the Eurasian Economic Union, while 28.3% do not want Ukraine to join any economic alliances.
Those are the results of a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from April 26 to April 30 and presented at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Survey results show 41.9% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should strive to be a NATO member, 34.7% – a neutral state and 12% – a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
If offered U.S. or EU citizenship, 27.1% said they would leave the country to live there, while 65.1% would remain in Ukraine. Only 6.3% said they would leave for Russia. Some 86.3% said they would refuse to relocate to Russia. Offered a “bonus” of $100,000, 11.2% of respondents said they would move there.
The KIIS survey was conducted from April 26 to April 30, 2020 using the CATI method (computer-assisted telephone interviews) based on a random selection of mobile phone numbers. Some 1,500 interviews were included in the survey.
The sample is representative of the adult population of Ukraine (aged 18 years and older). It does not include Russia-occupied areas in Donbas and Crimea. The statistical error of the sample (with a probability of 0.95 and without taking into account the design effect) does not exceed 2.6% for indicators close to 50%, 2.2% for indicators close to 25%, 1.7% for indicators close to 10% and 1.1% – for indicators close to 5%.
