Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Ihor Zhovkva had a conversation with Diplomatic Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Portugal, Georges Monteiro, via video link, the press service of the President of Ukraine reported on Tuesday.
Ihor Zhovkva thanked Jorge Monteiro for Portugal’s continued support of our country’s fight against Russian aggression.
“We appreciate Portugal’s practical participation in the tank, aviation and maritime coalitions. It is important that the volume and pace of military support continue to increase,” Ihor Zhovkva emphasized.
In the course of the conversation, the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office informed Georges Monteiro on the situation at the frontline and urgent military needs of Ukraine.
The interlocutors agreed to start negotiations on the conclusion of a bilateral security agreement in pursuance of the joint declaration of the Group of Seven on the support of Ukraine in the nearest future.
Particular attention was paid to Portugal’s support for the Ukrainian peace formula, as well as Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. George Monteiro noted Ukraine’s progress in implementing reforms necessary for its future membership in the EU and NATO.
As reported earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Portugal Luis Montenegro instructed to start working on the preparation of a security agreement.
Ukraine and Hungary have agreed to open the Velyka Palad-Nagyhodos checkpoint for passenger vehicles, the press service of the Ministry of Community Development, Territorial and Infrastructure Development (MinRestore) reported on Monday.
In addition, the countries agreed to allow the movement of empty trucks weighing more than 7.5 tons at the Luzhanka-Beregsurany checkpoint.
The relevant amendments to the Agreement between the governments of the countries on border traffic control were signed by the Deputy Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov and the Ambassador of Hungary to Ukraine Heizer Antala.
It is specified that the agreements reached with Hungary require ratification to come into force.
“The signed amendments to the Agreement with Hungary allow us to start planning design and infrastructure works to launch the new Velyka Palad-Nagyhodos checkpoint and ensure the movement of empty trucks at Luzhanka,” Kubrakov said.
According to him, the possibility of building a new cargo checkpoint “Dyida-Berehdaroc” is also being considered to increase the capacity of the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.
Kubrakov also noted that Ukraine is working to start negotiations on the introduction of joint customs and border control with Hungary.
“This will allow us to speed up control procedures and reduce the time for crossing the border,” emphasized Kubrakov.
There are 5 automobile checkpoints on the border with Hungary. Only the Chop-Záhony checkpoint can handle trucks weighing more than 7.5 tons. Both loaded and empty vehicles go there. Every day, about 220 trucks cross the Chop-Zahony border crossing to leave Ukraine.
Since the beginning of 2024, the demand for neurological drugs, including antidepressants, as well as drugs used to treat dementia, epilepsy and antipsychotics, has been growing, Yevhen Zaika, regional director of the Acino pharma company, shares his observations.
“We see a significant increase in demand for neurological drugs: antidepressants, drugs for the treatment of dementia, epilepsy and antipsychotics,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
Zaika noted an increase in demand for cardiac and endocrinology drugs, as well as an increase in the share of nutritional supplements in the sales structure.
Commenting on the current situation in the pharma market, the expert noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, logistics has risen in price by 20-30%. To counteract blackouts, the Pharma Start plant in Kiev, which produces products for Acino, was equipped with two diesel generators, the office and production are provided with Starlink Internet.
Zaika said that Acino currently has 17 new products in development.
At the same time, he emphasized that Ukrainian requirements for the quality and manufacture of drugs are “very severe.”
“For example, the Ukrainian market applies the requirement for separate registration of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which significantly increases the development time of new products, and also increases the cost of both developing and maintaining the active registration status of the product. In Europe, where we all aspire to, there is simply no such thing as AFI registration,” he said.
Commenting on the strategy of the company’s participation in budget procurement, Zaika noted that the volume of tender shipments grows annually in hryvnia equivalent, but the share of budget shipments remains approximately at the same level.
As reported, pharmacy sales in Ukraine in January-February 2024 increased in monetary terms by 21.6% compared to the same period of 2023 – up to UAH 32.331 billion, in physical terms – by 2.9% to 201.828 million packages. Pharmacy sales of medicinal products for two months of 2024 amounted to UAH 25.265 billion, which is 20.65% more than in the same period of 2023. At the same time, sales of drugs in physical terms increased by 2.6% to 142.869 million packs.
Kyivstar, the largest electronic communications operator, and SHERIFF, a holding of security companies, including SHERIFF Demining, which is a certified mine action operator, have signed a memorandum of cooperation.
Ukraine is currently the most mined country in the world. According to the State Emergency Service, about 175 thousand square kilometers of territory are contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance. That is why Kyivstar and SHERIFF Demining are starting to work on a technology for humanitarian demining operators.
The companies will jointly test RTK signal correction services, which will ensure high accuracy of mapping contaminated areas and marking explosive objects.
“Helping to rebuild the country is an important mission not only for Kyivstar, but also for the entire Ukrainian business. To speed up the process of demining and rebuilding the country, we are ready to share our experience in implementing the latest technologies that will save lives of Ukrainians,” comments Ilya Poltakov, Kyivstar’s Director of New Business Development. “In particular, for safe demining it is important to ensure the identification of the exact coordinates of mines and the boundaries of contaminated areas. This requires high-quality GNSS equipment with RTK technology support.”
Kyivstar will provide its partners with access to RTK technology and provide recommendations on the selection and use of GNSS receivers. The company’s specialists will also conduct analytical research to test positioning and location technologies.
“We expect that cooperation with Kyivstar will help us to significantly improve the accuracy of explosive ordnance detection and subsequent demining. This will allow us to clean up contaminated areas faster and safer and return them to peaceful life,” commented Yevhen Antypenko, SHERIFF Director.
About Kyivstar
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian electronic communications operator, which as of December 2023 served about 24 million mobile subscribers and more than 1.1 million Home Internet subscribers. The company provides services using a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G, Big Data, Cloud solutions, RTK cybersecurity services, digital TV, etc. Kyivstar is developing new telecom technologies in Ukraine and plans to invest USD 600 million in this area over the next three years. The company is helping the country overcome the challenges of wartime and has allocated over UAH 1.8 billion over the past two years to support the Armed Forces, subscribers, local communities, and charitable initiatives. The sole shareholder of Kyivstar is the international VEON Group headquartered in the Netherlands. The Group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) and Euronext (Amsterdam) stock exchanges. Kyivstar has been operating in Ukraine for more than 25 years and is recognized as the largest taxpayer in the telecom market, the best employer and a socially responsible company.
For more information: pr@kyivstar.net, www.kyivstar.ua
About SHERIFF
SHERIFF Security Holding is a national security operator that has been operating in Ukraine since 2003 and is a leader in the security services market. The company offers the maximum portfolio of services in its field: demining (certified mine action operator), a license to provide collection services and a NBU permit for a cash processing and transfer center, physical security, fire alarm maintenance and monitoring, fire extinguisher recharging, installation of video surveillance systems (including analytical systems) and access control, monitoring and response to burglar alarms, as well as Transfer customer support services, cargo escort, armored taxi, and other services. More than 40,000 clients have entrusted their security to SHERIFF.
For more information: pr@sheriff.com.ua, www.sheriff.com.ua
The Polish Trade Inspectorate for Quality of Agricultural and Food Products (IJHARS) has fined 1.5 million zlotys (about $380,000) to an importing company that imported technical rapeseed and fodder wheat to the Polish market and sold them to a number of local companies as food agricultural products, according to the website of the agency.
It is specified that the trade inspection checked 3,882 tons of rapeseed and revealed the facts of changing the declared purpose from technical to consumer use and the declared country of origin from Ukraine to Poland.
A similar decision on the importing company in the form of imposing a fine was issued for the shipment of 7679 tons of wheat, which also revealed a discrepancy between the purpose of the product and its country of origin.
“Agri-food products intended for technical purposes are generally not produced, stored or transported in accordance with the safety standards required for food products. They are competitively priced because they are not subject to the provisions of food law, and businesses selling them do not incur the costs associated with meeting higher safety standards,” the agency said.
The trade inspectorate, based on the analysis of seized documentation, found that the fined company had put on the market more than 11,500 tons of counterfeit rapeseed and wheat imported from Ukraine and resold the goods to six counterparties from the Pomeranian and Lubelskie voivodships.
“Regardless of the administrative decision issued, the case is also the subject of criminal proceedings under the supervision of the regional prosecutor’s office in Rzeszów,” the office emphasized.
The fine issued to IJHARS in Lublin is not an isolated case, the Trade Inspection Office emphasized. Over the past few months, 6 other companies were fined for similar violations in the supply of wheat, barley, poultry meat and for obstructing inspectors from inspecting cargoes from Ukraine.
According to Przemyslaw Rzodkiewicz, chief inspector of commodity quality of agricultural and food products, inspectors checked more than 82,000 shipments in 2023.
“In order to intensify activities to ensure proper quality and positive image of food products in Poland, we have created a special group in IJHARS to combat food fraud and will soon launch a campaign together with numerous partners to counter misinformation about this category of goods,” he said.
The volume of completed construction works in Ukraine in 2023 increased by 41.5% compared to 2022 – up to 162.7 billion UAH, according to the data of the State Statistics Service (Gosstat).
According to the statistics department, the volume of construction work in residential construction by the end of 2023 increased by 11.1% compared to the previous year, to 22.3 billion UAH; in non-residential – increased by 38.1%, to 41.5 billion UAH; in engineering – by 52.6%, to 98.8 billion UAH.
In December-2023, the volume of construction work exceeded the figure of December-2022 by 35.1%, and the previous month – by 85.8%, notes the State Statistics Service.
As reported by the State Statistics Office, in January-December 2023 to the same period of 2022, the reduction in construction was observed in the segment of housing – by 4.6%. At the same time, non-residential and engineering construction recorded an increase in volumes – by 20% and 32.9%, respectively.
According to the seasonally adjusted data of the department, the indices of construction products in December-2023 in residential construction amounted to 49.4%, in non-residential – 88.3%, in engineering – 112.7%, and taking into account the effect of calendar days, the indicators are 71.5%, 188% and 273% respectively.
The share of new construction to the total volume of completed construction works amounted to 36.3%, repair – 42.9%, reconstruction and technical re-equipment – 20.8%.
The State Statistics Service notes that the publication of data was postponed due to martial law. Statdata are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territories and part of the territories where hostilities are (were) conducted.
As reported, the volume of completed construction works in Ukraine in 2022 decreased by 2.2 times compared to 2021 – to 113.8 billion UAH.
