Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal is on a working visit to Luxembourg.
“We start our visit to Luxembourg with a meeting with Prime Minister Luc Frieden. We will discuss the continuation of support for our state and focus on the issue of confiscation of Russian assets,” Shmygal wrote in his Telegram channel.
Natural gas reserves in Ukrainian underground gas storages (UGS) have reached 11.7 billion cubic meters of gas, and 1.5 million tons of coal are in the warehouses of power plants, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said.
“We are also preparing the heat and power sector for winter. Repairs of cogeneration plants, boiler houses, thermal power plants are going on as planned. 11.7 billion cubic meters of gas has already been pumped into Ukrainian gas reservoirs. This is almost 80% of the demand. We have 1.5 million tons of coal in stock, we plan to reach the figure of 1.8 million tons,” Shmygal said at a meeting of the Ukrainian government on Tuesday.
The head of the government called on the Ministry of Recovery, the Ministry of Energy, Ukrenergo and Naftogaz Ukrainy “to maximum concentration of efforts and mobilization of resources.”
As reported, Ukraine has 12 UGS facilities with a total design capacity of 31 billion cubic meters. The country plans to enter the 2023/24 heating season with 14.7bn cu.m. of reserves.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Prime Minister Denis Shmygal to replace Oleksandr Tkachenko as Minister of Culture and Information Policy.
“Budget expenditures during such a war are the maximum of state attention, which means that state resources should go to defense. And every project that can be realized with extra-budgetary resources should be realized with extra-budgetary resources,” he said in a video message on Thursday.
According to him, this applies to different spheres and, in particular, the field of culture.
“Museums, cultural centers, symbols, serials. All this is important, but now other priorities. Find extra-budgetary funds. Not of the state,” Zelensky said.
“I suggested to the head of the government two steps. The first is to find extra-budgetary funds for projects that you really need now. There are people in the world who can help. And the second, asked the Prime Minister to consider replacing the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine,” he also said.
According to Zelensky, “people should feel that the resources of budgets are used fairly and correctly. Everyone understands what we are talking about. Paving stones, decoration of cities, fountains will wait. Victory first.”
Prime Minister Denis Shmygal held a meeting in Kiev with a delegation from the Portuguese Parliament, during which the parties discussed support for Ukraine and assistance in its reconstruction. “Held a meeting in Kiev with the delegation of the Assembly of Portugal, headed by the head of Parliament Augusto Santos Silva. The focus of our conversation – support and assistance in reconstruction,” – wrote Shmygal in Telegram channel.
The prime minister invited Portuguese businesses to invest in the country now, because the reconstruction of Ukraine will be the largest project since World War II.
“We hope for Portugal’s support of Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” he wrote.
Prime Minister Denis Shmygal says USAID will support the creation of processing plants in Ukraine starting next year.
“The government is interested in increasing added value, that’s why it already supports the creation of processing enterprises in mid-sized businesses through eRabotka grant programs. According to him, an agreement has been reached with USAID to support this direction from next year,” the government press service said referring to Shmygal.
The prime minister also noted that after the war Ukraine expects a significant inflow of capital.
“Much attention will be paid to projects of public-private partnership, concession and for Ukrainian business will have a key role in this strategy,” the statement said.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announces the possibility of signing an Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of industrial products (ACAA) with the European Union, the so-called “industrial visa-free travel” until the end of 2022.
“The interaction of the parties in the framework of the preliminary assessment and regular reports on the implementation of the recommendations provided give us reason to hope for the signing of the ACAA Agreement by the end of 2022,” Shmyhal said at a meeting of the Commission on Coordinating the Implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU on Wednesday.
In addition, according to him, Ukraine expects to join the joint EU transit procedure also in 2022.
In addition, among the priorities of the government is the conclusion of an agreement with the EU on the liberalization of international transit freight traffic.
