At the end of the fourth five-year period, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) will revise anti-dumping restrictions on the supply of Certain Cut-to-length Carbon Steel Plate to the American market from Ukraine, Russia and China.
According to the USITC report in the Federal Register bulletin, the start of the review is set for November 2, the deadline for responses from participants in the review procedure is December 2, 2020.
During the revision procedure, USITC will determine the possibility of abolishing anti-dumping duties on these products from China, as well as ending the suspension of the investigation on this type of rental from the Russian Federation and Ukraine – to what extent this may lead to the continuation or renewal of damage to local manufacturers of these products in the United States.
Former U.S. Department of State Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, has become an independent member of the board of directors of BGS Rail, which operates in Ukraine, since September 1, U.S.-government funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has reported.
According to it, BGS Rail is registered in Ukraine. Avia Solutions Group expects Volker’s participation to strengthen the company’s presence in the market.
“By using his vast experience gained in previous positions, we believe that his arrival to the company will further expand Avia Solutions Group’s global reach and strengthen BGS Rail’s position as one of the market’s leading service providers,” the group’s statement reads.
It is noted that Avia Solutions also has in its disposal a comment made by Volker, who points to the opportunity to strengthen the Ukrainian economy in his new work.
“By working with Avia Solutions Group in its development of BGS Rail, I see an opportunity to strengthen Ukraine’s economy, build world-class services, and create jobs for Ukrainian citizens. This goes hand-in-hand with Avia Solutions Group’s global strategy of building world-class services and market position,” he said.
Volker served as Special Representative of the U.S. Department of State for Ukraine in 2017-2019.
The Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting on May 27 approved a memorandum with Louisiana Natural Gas Exports on possible LNG supplies from the United States to Ukraine and the development of gas infrastructure with Poland. “The Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection has worked out a draft memorandum of cooperation between Louisiana Natural Gas Exports and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on facilitating gas supplies to Ukraine and improving gas infrastructure, which provides for exploring the possibility of diversifying natural gas supply routes by ensuring long-term supplies of liquefied natural gas and developing cross-border gas infrastructure in Ukraine and the EU,” Olha Buslavets, the acting Minister of Energy and Environment Protection, said.
According to data released by MP Oleksiy Honcharenko (the European Solidarity faction) on Telegram, the document provides for an annual LNG supply of about 5.5 billion cubic meters, and its price will be determined in accordance with the prices on the American gas exchange Henry Hub.
The memorandum, in particular, provides for the construction of a new gas pipeline between the gas hub Hermanowice (Poland) and the Bilche-Volytsko UGS facility. Project funding may include support of certain U.S. and European government agencies.
Final agreements may include a long-term agreement for the supply of LNG from the United States to Ukraine, an agreement on gas storage in Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities, an agreement on the construction and operation of necessary infrastructure between Poland and Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes that economic and geopolitical relations between Ukraine and the United States are at a good level, and they need to be improved without getting involved in internal political processes. “For me, good relations with the United States, which were different at different times, were important. I believe that the elections [in the United States] is a purely political issue, and certainly not the issue of Ukraine, but of the United States. Their president, their people, choose whom you want, we will support your choice,” he said in an interview with Israeli Channel 9.
Zelensky noted that when “some kind of story” began to develop after his telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump in September, he did everything possible to prevent Ukraine from being drawn into this political issue.
“Because only economic and geopolitical relations are important between the countries that respect each other, regardless of nationality, religion, breadth, importance, availability of nuclear weapons. And I believe that in these two areas, economics and geopolitics, everything is good in our relations with the United States. This “everything is normal” needs to be improved, but certainly not worsened,” he stressed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he has no intention of interfering in U.S. internal affairs and elections in any way.
“I do not want to interfere in any way in the elections held by this independent nation, the United States, and I will not be doing it … Elect your own president and do not interfere in future elections of an independent Ukraine,” Zelensky said during a press marathon in Kyiv on Thursday.
“With due respect for the United States and America’s policy, we are not serving the latter’s purpose, as we are an independent country. However, we do not want to lose our relations, we wish to strengthen them instead,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine does not take sides in the U.S. domestic dispute, he said.
“We have no right to interfere in any elections in any country. We cannot back any candidates, I mean U.S. politicians,” he said.
It is a big mistake for the United States and bilateral relations to involve the Ukrainian president in these processes, Zelensky said.
Zelensky denied being acquainted and meeting with Ukrainian American businessman Sam Kislin.
“I could not tell who it was even from the photo,” he said.
Journalists asked whether Ukraine could count on U.S. President Donald Trump under the current circumstances.
“We count on support of the United States above all, including support of U.S. President Donald Trump. I’d rather not comment on what is going on in their domestic policy. It’s their domestic policy, and I do not see any change in their attitude towards us in international relations,” Zelensky said.
The problem of blocked deliveries of U.S. weapons to Ukraine has been solved, Zelensky said.
“This has nothing to do with Burisma [company],” he said.
“I do not anticipate any change [in Ukraine-U.S. relations] but if it happens, we will learn about that from Twitter,” Zelensky said jokingly.
U.S. President Trump ordered the removal of the ambassador to Ukraine after months of complaints from allies outside the administration, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, that she was undermining him abroad and obstructing efforts to persuade Kyiv to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Trump’s personal lawyer Giuliani told the newspaper that Yovanovitch was biased against the U.S. president in private conversations and prevented Ukraine from conducting an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter.
In addition, the newspaper reports that Giuliani handed over to the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a nine-page document dated March 28 containing a schedule of Biden’s business meetings in Ukraine.
The document also claimed that Yovanovitch was very close to the former vice president.
It is noted that although the U.S. Department of State presented Yovanovitch’s departure from Ukraine in May as planned, her tenure as ambassador was three months shorter than the usual three-year term.
Earlier, U.S. media reported that Trump tried in a telephone conversation on July 25 to convince Zelensky of the need to launch an investigation against Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden.
An American intelligence officer complained in writing, and members of the U.S. Congress received the complaint for review. The complaint of intelligence officer statement prompted Democrats in the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment hearings against Trump.
In addition to U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Yovanovitch, democrats also requested State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, State Department counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland appear for depositions at the Congress.
On Thursday, Trump explicitly called on Ukraine and China to launch investigations into the activities of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his companies.
