Ukraine and Moldova agreed to deepen cooperation in the field of food safety, as well as expand the list of permitted commodity items for export to Moldova, in particular, for pigs and composite products.
Relevant agreements were reached during a meeting between the head of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, Anatoliy Vovniuk, and Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Ukraine Valeriu Chiveri, according to the website of the Ukrainian department.
According to the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service, as of today, 18 forms of veterinary certificates for export from Ukraine to Moldova have been agreed between the countries.
“During the Russian military aggression against the Ukrainian people, the support of friendly countries is extremely important for our state,” Vovniuk said.
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom has signed an export contract with the Moldovan state company Energocom, according to which it plans to supply 85,200 MWh of electricity to Moldova in June at a price of $77 per 1 MWh.
Energoatom has great potential to increase the production of electricity, so its export to Moldova, and subsequently to the neighboring EU countries, is an extremely promising area of the company’s trading activities,” the company said on its Telegram channel on Friday.
At the same time, thanks to the export, Energoatom will receive an additional source for financing of public service obligations (PSO), according to which the population is supplied with electricity.
As Energoatom said, Ukrainian exports will allow Moldova to diversify electricity supplies and strengthen the country’s energy security, since its power consumption largely depends on generation at the Moldavskaya State District Power Plant of Russia.
According to the results of daily auctions, on June 4 and on June 5, Energoatom bought 150 MW of interstate section towards Moldova on a flat schedule, another 200 MW on a flat schedule was bought by PJSC Ukrhydroenergo, which has been exporting electricity to Moldova since May 12.
Ukraine and Moldova will renew the Free Trade Agreement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“Despite the war we are implementing agreements of 2021. The draft law on the application of Pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin was submitted to Parliament,” Shmyhal said in Twitter on Friday.
In turn, representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said the draft law approved on Friday “On the ratification of the Protocol between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Moldova on Free Trade Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Moldova dated November 13 2003” will allow in bilateral trade between Ukraine and Moldova, when determining the origin of goods, to be guided by the provisions of the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin or alternative rules of origin of the said Regional Convention.
Foreign Ministers of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba and Moldova’s Nikolai Popescu will attend the meeting of the G7 foreign ministers, which starts on Thursday in Germany, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Wednesday.
“The representative of the German Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday in Berlin that the discussions near the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein will periodically join the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba and Moldovan Nikolay Popescu,” the newspaper writes.
The publication recalls that Germany is currently chairing the G7. At the meeting of the G7 foreign ministers, they will discuss the consequences of the situation around Ukraine, its impact on energy and food security.
Ministers will also talk about China and the situation in the Indo-Pacific region, the situation in the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan, climate change and the coronavirus pandemic. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, whose country now chairs the G20, will take part in some of the discussions.
Later, the Süddeutsche Zeitung recalls, on May 14-15, the foreign ministers of the NATO countries will gather for an informal meeting in Berlin. At the same time, the newspaper specifies, on Saturday the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Finland, Ann Linde and Pekka Haavisto, will join the consultations.
In turn, the German Foreign Ministry noted that this format of meetings within NATO will be held for the first time, it should contribute to the development of a dialogue between the members of the alliance, a more direct and open exchange of views.
The European Commission will soon submit a report on the readiness of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia to join the European Union, European Council President Charles Michel said.
“We discussed in detail the issues of EU enlargement a few months ago, at the conference in Versailles. After that, three countries applied for accession. We made a decision very quickly, instructing the European Commission to carry out work and prepare reports on these countries. We made a decision in a few days, although it usually took 8-9 months. By the end of June, the European Commission will publish this report, and we will decide how to proceed further,” Michel said at a joint press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu during a visit to Chisinau.
He stressed that the EU will continue to act promptly.
“We will act immediately to strengthen ties with Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, to support them in the current difficult situation. This will be a political process in the context of how we see the development of the European Union. In the next two months, we will give a clear signal of what we want to enlarge the European Union,” the President of the European Council said.
For her part, Moldovan President Maia Sandu stressed that “European integration is the choice of the country, the choice of the people.” “On April 22, we submitted to Brussels the first part of our responses to the European Commission’s questionnaire. In the near future we will also pass on the second part. We understand that integration into the EU is a long process, we are not looking for short and easy ways. We intend to continue reforms. Most importantly – peace is needed for this, everything must be done to restore peace,” Sandu stressed.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) is planning to transport large volumes of cargo from China to Ukraine via Poland, Romania and Moldova, and is also developing a concept for transporting cargo from the United States, for which it is necessary to go through a special procedure for obtaining FAA permits.
According to the company’s website, the company is also in dialogue with Southern Airways Express (the USA) regarding the branding of their aircraft in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and is discussing the possibility of creating “sister airlines” that could attract SkyUp employees to work on an outsourcing basis.
According to the airline’s website, in March, SkyUp performed 21 evacuation flights on the Chisinau-Tel Aviv route and transported 2,835 refugees to Israel under the repatriation program, as well as their 124 pets.
Today, SkyUp is working on the possibility of performing evacuation flights to Portugal, Sweden and the UK under the Israel-Romania program.
In addition, SkyUp agreed with Suceava Airport (Romania) on the possibility of transporting cargo. This is the closest point to the border of Ukraine.
The company has now also confirmed shipments of humanitarian supplies from Portugal and Israel to Ukraine via Poland, including helmets and clothing for the army.
It is noted that during this time the company transported 112 tonnes of humanitarian cargo. The cargo included medicines, including insulin, baby food, personal hygiene and household chemicals, blankets, diapers, etc. The cargo was distributed according to its intended purpose: for the needs of Ukrainian refugees in Chisinau and various cities of Ukraine.
