The Netherlands will invest 100 million euros in the recently established International Foundation for Ukraine (IFU) to finance military equipment for Ukraine, the country’s Defense Ministry said.
According to the ministry’s website, this was announced by Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren during a visit to the UK.
The IFU money is being used to purchase equipment directly from manufacturers to ensure its quickest possible delivery to Ukraine.
“If Russia stopped fighting, there would be no war. If Ukraine stopped fighting, there would be no Ukraine. International support for Ukraine remains vital,” the minister said.
The first industry contracts are expected to be signed by the end of this year. The first deliveries are expected in the first half of next year.
In addition to the Netherlands, other participants in the fund are its initiators Great Britain, Denmark and Norway.
The Netherlands will allocate additional EUR 70 million to Ukraine for the repair of municipal infrastructure on the eve of winter, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands Liesje Schreinemacher.
“As winter approaches, the problems for Ukrainians are only getting worse. Houses, plumbing and heating systems are in urgent need of repair. I announced to the World Bank that I am already allocating EUR 70 million on behalf of the Netherlands, especially for this winter,” she tweeted.
According to the data of the Ministry of Finance as of October 11, earlier the Netherlands committed to allocate EUR 310 million to finance the budget deficit of Ukraine, of which it has already provided EUR 106 million, including EUR 21 million in the form of grants.
Cyprus has issued a temporary certificate of continuation of activity to the parent company of Astarta agro-industrial holding Astarta Holding N.V, certifying its registration as a company temporarily operating in the Republic of Cyprus under the name Astarta Holding PLC.
As the holding reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday evening, the corresponding certificate was issued to the company on September 16 by the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry of the Republic of Cyprus.
It is specified that Astarta received a temporary certificate of registration in Cyprus as part of the ongoing process of its cross-border migration to the jurisdiction of Cyprus from the Dutch jurisdiction.
“The migration has taken effect, which means that the company was temporarily registered in Cyprus under the name Astarta Holding PLC, the seat of the Company was transferred from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Nicosia (Cyprus). The company lost its legal address in the Netherlands and began its activities under the name Astarta Holding PLC,” the holding said in an exchange message.
At the same time, the formal completion of the legal migration will occur after Astarta receives the final certificate of continuation of its activities, for which it needs to provide evidence of the official transfer of registration from the Dutch Commercial Register (Handelsregister) to the Companies Registry in Cyprus within 6 months after receiving the temporary certificate of registration .
According to the report, the change of jurisdiction of Astarta took place without dissolution of the company, termination of its existence or reincorporation, its shares were not replaced by new shares and remain listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Also, migration does not affect the voting rights and the right to profit of the company’s shareholders.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
The Netherlands has announced the allocation of an additional aid package to Ukraine worth more than EUR 80 million, the country’s Defense Ministry reports.
“This will include EUR 65 million for aid and investment in Ukraine. Additional money [EUR 10 million] will be earmarked to clear landmines and other explosive remnants of war,” the ministry said in a statement.
In addition, the Netherlands has reserved EUR 1 million for the reconstruction of a number of cities.
“Another EUR 2.5 million will go to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD] to share knowledge concerning macroeconomic reforms,” the report says.
In addition, another EUR 2 million will go to the UN Fund to support victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena thanked the King and Queen of the Netherlands for supporting the people of Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion.
“My wife Olena and I are sincerely grateful to Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima for the kind words of support for the people of Ukraine. We resist aggressive aggression. Today, more than ever, it is important for us to feel that we are not alone,” Zelensky wrote on his Twitter on Tuesday.
Since July 1, the Netherlands has opened an entrance for Ukrainians, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“We have just received confirmation that another EU country, the Netherlands, has opened for Ukrainians,” Kuleba said on his Twitter microblog.
According to him, fully vaccinated citizens of Ukraine can again travel freely within the visa-free travel.
Kuleba said the list of recognized vaccines and detailed conditions for entry are contained on the website https://tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua/.
Earlier it was reported that Austria, from July 1, 2021, resumed entry into the country for Ukrainians for all types of travel.
