President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked businessman Richard Branson and representatives of world business for supporting the Ukrainian state.
“Grateful to Richard Branson and the global business community for supporting Ukraine. Innovative businessmen best understand the key vectors of human development. Hence, their call to unite and defend Ukraine’s sovereignty, in particular, by imposing sanctions on the aggressor, is crucial,” Zelensky said on Twitter last week.
A day earlier, Branson said that in Twitter that “for business leaders, this is the moment to come together and stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty,” and also published a link to his article “My thoughts on Ukraine and Russia” in which he repeated this thesis. “For business leaders, this is the moment to come together and stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty. Even if it comes at a price, all of us should send a clear message that unilateral aggression is always unacceptable and that the global business community will support the full range of sanctions against any nation that seeks to violate the sovereignty of another,” he said.
The businessman also said in the article that “Business leaders all over the world have been watching the build-up of Russian troops and equipment at the Ukrainian border with great concern” and that any war between Russia and Ukraine will have devastating and terrible consequences, primarily for the civilian population on both sides, and further isolates Russia.
“But never in recent years has there been a greater risk of an all-out war on European soil – a war that, like so many before it, does not serve a just or legitimate objective. (It is hard for any of us to hide our exasperation at this point. In 2022, what on earth is one country doing amassing tanks at another country’s borders?” Branson said.
Ukraine will spend at least $4-5 billion to stabilize the economic situation, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“To stabilize our economy, we will spend about $4-5 billion. I do not count on a smaller figure, this is the amount we need,” Zelensky said at a briefing with foreign media representatives in Kyiv on Friday.
The President said that the West, providing Ukraine with funding and assistance, gives an appropriate signal of support for the country.
“But the question is still not in the amount, but in the fact that they believe in the economy of Ukraine and send the appropriate signals,” Zelensky said.
First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko and Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development of Canada Mary Ng during an online meeting on January 27 announced the launch of negotiations to modernize the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA).
“Canada and Ukraine will seek to negotiate new obligations in areas, including services, investment, digital trade, labour, and the environment, while advancing an inclusive approach to trade that aims to facilitate new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises,” the Ministry of Economy said in a statement.
