From April 2022, Poland will change its visa operator in Ukraine – it will be the TLS consortium, consisting of five companies – TLS Group S.A., TLSContact Maroc Immeuble Walili, TLScontact Ukraine LLC, Personnel Service, Viza Staff.
Such data is contained in the materials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, provided in response to a deputy request from Olena Moshenets (Servant of the People), which is available to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
“According to the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine, on February 7, 2022, an agreement was concluded on the provision of visa services with a company determined as the winner based on the results of a tender for the selection of a visa operator. The start of work of a new visa operator is scheduled for April 2022,” the Foreign Ministry said in response at the request of an MP.
Prior to the start of the work of the new operator, the acceptance of documents will be carried out by VFS Global.
“The announcement of the launch of the new operator will be made public on the official web portal of the Polish diplomatic/consular institutions,” the ministry said.
Germany has prepared a loan for Ukraine to develop projects in the hydrogen energy and plans to provide further financial assistance in this sector, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said.
“We, like the EU, invest in many projects in Ukraine. Therefore, the last time I made it clear that with regard to hydrogen, we will implement projects together with German business. Therefore, we have prepared a financial loan and are planning further financial assistance in this sector, because we, as a partner, are on the side of Ukraine,” Baerbock said at a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Monday.
In turn, Kuleba said that Ukraine and Germany agreed on concrete further steps in this area.
“We all know the subject of Nord Stream 2, but our countries do not live by it alone. We have a serious future that we want to create around renewable energy sources. In this regard, we paid special attention to projects in hydrogen energy, which should ideally connect our economies and be mutually beneficial for our states. We agreed on concrete further steps in this area,” the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
Ukraine and Poland are jointly developing a plan for the implementation of a high-speed rail link between Kyiv and Warsaw and are preparing for its presentation at the level of the European Union.
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported on its Facebook page these are the results of the visit of head of the department Oleksandr Kubrakov, his deputy Mustafa Nayyem and head of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Kamyshin to Poland.
According to the agency, the construction of the Kyiv-Warsaw eurotrack will reduce the travel time from one capital to another by rail by four hours.
In addition, during the negotiations, the reconstruction of the section Malhowice-Nyzhankovychi on the Ukrainian-Polish border, which has not been operated since 1995, was discussed. Currently, the search for sources of financing for this project is underway.
As reported, JSC Ukrzaliznytsia from February 10, 2022 removes all restrictions on rail transit to Poland.
Ukraine and Poland are planning to launch high-speed trains between the capitals.
“Recently I’ve been to Poland, talked with my counterpart in the Polish government. They support our idea, they are interested in it. They have also figured out that high-speed trains of 300 km+ are super-expensive and definitely not about economy. But as for 250 km+, we completely coincide with them in technical requirements, and now our teams are already starting to work. That is, we have agreements that our Italian company, which is developing a feasibility study, will work with the two railways,” Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov said during the Big Construction: New Railway forum in Kyiv.
He also stressed that a preliminary understanding of the cost of the project and its roadmap is expected by the end of the year or in January 2022.
For this project, according to Kubrakov, a preliminary feasibility study is already being developed.
Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) has declined to book additional transit capacity via Ukraine and Poland for Q1 2022, according to the results of booking auctions on GSA Platform and Regional Booking Platform.
Gazprom has been refraining from long-term bookings this year, preferring mostly monthly contracts.
Liberalization of the European gas market has resulted in the rejection of long-term transit agreements. Transparent auction bookings have replaced the long-term agreements in order to eliminate excess booking costs from the gas price. Consequently, those shipping gas are free to book only their required capacity amount, and for the time when the capacity would be necessary.
UKRAINE
Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine distributed the proposed capacity along two routes, with 9.8 million cubic meters per day offered at the Sudzha gas-measuring station, and an additional 5.2 million cubic meters per day offered at the Sokhranovka gas-measuring station, though they were unclaimed.
Gazprom has a long-term booking of Ukrainian capacities totaling 40 billion cubic meters, which is 109 million cubic meters per day.
POLAND
Gazprom also did not book any capacity via the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline for the first quarter of 2022. The 2,000-km Yamal-Europe gas pipeline has the capacity to pump up to 33 billion cubic meters per year. The EuRoPol Gaz joint venture owns Poland’s 683-km section of the pipeline, and the national gas transmission operator Gaz-System operates the pipeline. Gazprom’s long-term contract for transit via Poland ended a year ago, with capacity since then being allocated based on auction bookings. For the gas year from October 2020 to September 2021, Gazprom booked capacity at an annual auction. The company then booked part of the pipeline’s capacities at monthly auctions.
Poland has become the main destination country for labour migrants from Ukraine, according to the publication “Migration in Ukraine: Figures and Facts” prepared by the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Agency for Migration in Ukraine (IOM).
“Emigration to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary has increased in a certain way. As before, Poland is the main destination for Ukrainians,” Doctor of Public Administration, expert on migration issues Olena Malynovska said at the presentation of the publication in Kyiv on Friday.
In particular, in 2020, some 1.329 million applications of Polish employers about their intention to employ a citizen of Ukraine were registered. It is estimated that the labor participation of Ukrainians in the Polish economy has provided 13% of its growth in recent years.
“There has been a noticeable increase in the number of applications by Ukrainians to acquire a long-term or permanent permit to stay abroad, in particular in Poland. The pandemic, which limited the possibility for circular migration, that is, periodic trips abroad, has led to an intensification of the tendency for a part of temporary labor migration to become permanent or for a long migration,” Malynovska said.
According to the publication, in 2020, private remittances to Ukraine amounted to $11.888 billion, while foreign direct investment amounted to $868 billion less.
In addition, in 2020, Ukraine issued 12,000 immigration permits and 293,600 permanent residence permits.
“The number of foreign students has been growing, and this is a positive phenomenon, but I want to draw your attention to the fact that last year there was a third less invitations for applicants, that is, the replenishment of the contingent of foreign students last year took place at a lower level. In the coming years, we will have a reduction in the number of foreign students,” Malynovska said.
According to the data indicated in the publication, the number of immigrants on the territory of Ukraine is decreasing, while the number of emigrants is growing. In particular, 4.997 million people of immigrants lived in Ukraine in 2020 (some 6.893 million people in 1990), while 6.139 million people of emigrants from Ukraine lived abroad (some 5.546 million people in 1990).
According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, as of July 2021, the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine reached 1.474 million people.
The publication informs that in 2020 the population of Ukraine was 41.6 million, while in 2018 the population was 42.4 million. It is noted that in 2020, some 616,800 people died in Ukraine, and 293,400 people were born.
It is indicated that Ukraine’s GDP is still below the 2013 level. In particular, in 2020, Ukraine’s GDP was $142.3 billion, while in 2013 it was $183.3 billion. At the end of 2020, the unemployment rate in Ukraine was 10.1%, which was the highest since 2014. It is noted that the poverty level in Ukraine is 23.3%, below the poverty line are 8.8 million citizens. Previously the Experts Club made an analytical program dedicated to the Ukrainian demography in 1990-2021 period. For more details on the analysis of the demographic situation in Ukraine, see the video posted on the Experts Club channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc04wUpexnE
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