The government is exploring the possibility of strengthening control over visitors from the UK, India, Russia and Portugal to prevent the circulation of the “Delta” (Indian) strain of coronavirus (COVID-19), Health Minister Viktor Liashko said.
“At the Cabinet of Ministers we considered the possibility of strengthening control over people who come from four countries, Great Britain, India, Russia and Portugal, where the greatest circulation of the so-called Delta virus,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
As noted by Liashko, the peculiarity of the Delta strain is that it is transmitted faster and leads to hospitalization faster.
“This leads to the fact that hospitals fill up rather quickly, in particular, we see this in Russia,” he said.
To ensure unhindered bilateral trade with the UK after its withdrawal from the European Union, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection has agreed on a number of forms of relevant certificates and is negotiating with the UK to deepen cooperation, the agency said in a press release. According to the document, at present, 20 forms of certificates for the export of products to the UK and 12 for the import of products from it have already been agreed.
“After the UK had left the European Union, our efforts were focused on agreeing the forms of certificates for bilateral trade on mutually beneficial terms. Today we already have 20 certificates for exports to the UK and 12 certificates for imports. Work in this direction continues,” head of the service Vladyslava Mahaletska said.
The service also noted that it is negotiating with the competent authorities of the UK on deepening bilateral cooperation, priorities for effective interaction between the parties, resolving veterinary and other issues.
As reported, Ukraine signed a FTA with the UK in 2020. The document provides for access to the British market for 98% of Ukrainian products, and from 2023 it will liberalize trade for another 2%. At the same time, the number of quota goods remains unchanged, although for a number of items their volumes have been expanded.
New missile boats for the Ukrainian Navy will be designed in the UK as part of a previously signed memorandum on re-equipping the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Defence Attaché at the British Embassy Tim Woods said.
“These missile boats are designed specifically for Ukraine, so they will be original and will have a length of approximately 50 to 65 meters, which will provide a speed of 40 knots. It is planned to install artillery systems and missiles on them. It depends, among other things, on what kind of missiles are needed. And these can be short- or long-range missiles. This is the issue that British companies are considering right now. But these will be missiles of a new class, specially designed for Ukraine by the British industry,” Woods said in an interview with the Day newspaper.
He said that the first four boats will be constructed in the UK. At the same time, Ukrainian shipbuilders will be able to observe construction, learn and train.
Woods said that the second part, namely, four missile boats, will be constructed in Ukraine. It will be great for Ukrainian shipbuilding and also for the Navy, so these capabilities will be available in Ukraine.
The attaché believes the construction of the first ship will start early 2022.
Woods also said another option that we they studying has not yet been formalized, it is the joint design of warships of the British industry with the Ukrainian design bureau in Mykolaiv.
The energy company DTEK is creating an investment hub for the new Ukrainian energy sector in London, which is scheduled to start operating at the end of the first half of 2021, the press service of DTEK said on Friday, January 8.
“We are creating a hub to attract investments in new energy projects in Ukraine. First of all, this concerns renewable energy sources, energy storage systems and energy projects using hydrogen. Together with the increase in gas production and the development of networks, these areas are identified as priorities in our new strategy,” CEO of DTEK Maksym Tymchenko said, whose words are quoted in the release.
According to him, the specially created company DTEK International Ltd. will carry out operational activities to attract investment to Ukraine in the UK.
The message also indicates that the new DTEK office will be located in the City of London and will be aimed at working both with investors wishing to invest in Ukraine and with Ukrainian entrepreneurs developing energy projects.
As reported, according to the new strategy of DTEK 2030, the company undertook, in particular, commitments to achieve compliance with European legislation on harmful emissions by 2025 and become carbon neutral by 2040, will continue the practice of introducing a wireless Wi-Fi network at its coal mining assets, intends to expand power grid assets in Ukraine and the EU countries and its activity in green energy, including new renewable energy projects outside Ukraine, as well as trading on the markets of EU countries.
DTEK, HUB, INVESTMENT, UK
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has proposed the Verkhovna Rada to ratify the protocol signed between Ukraine and the UK in 2019, which will provide an opportunity to create legal grounds for international freight transportation by Euro-5 and higher vehicles without obtaining necessary permits.
The Cabinet of Ministers adopted a corresponding decision on July 15.
According to an explanatory note to the document, the text of which is available to Interfax-Ukraine, the corresponding protocol was developed with the aim of improving the legal framework, intensifying the process of liberalization of international road transportation between Ukraine and Britain, in particular to avoid a situation with a lack of permits for Ukrainian road carriers, as occurred with Ukraine and Poland.
According to the developer of the document, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, the implementation of international freight carriage without permits will give an extremely positive impetus to the development of trade between countries, as well as the development of the transport sector.
“Now the fleet of vehicles transporting to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland includes vehicles with engines that meet high environmental standards. The implementation of this draft protocol will provide new opportunities for domestic carriers to carry out their activities. In addition, Ukraine will be able to attract additional freight traffic, as British carriers will also be able to carry out transportation to Ukraine without permits,” the Ministry of Infrastructure said.
The UK supports the Ukrainian government in the reform process and looks forward to its continued fruitful work.
This was reported by British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons.
“We support the sustained efforts of the government of Ukraine to carry out comprehensive reform and we look forward to its continued fruitful work. Ministers and senior officials who want to take forward reform do and always will have our support,” she wrote on Twitter.
