Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk will pay an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 27-28 March.
According to the press service of the Verkhovna Rada, the program of the visit includes meetings with members of the British parliament. In particular, Stefanchuk will communicate with Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsey Goyle and Lord Speaker of the House of Lords D.F. McFaul, members of both Houses of Parliament, representatives of the UK-Ukraine Friendship Group and the Conservatives as Friends of Ukraine initiative group.
A number of bilateral meetings are also planned: with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former British Prime Minister, MP Boris Johnson.
During the visit, a memorandum of understanding will be signed between the offices of the Verkhovna Rada and the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The agreement between Ukraine and the EU on the liberalization of cargo transportation has been prolonged until 30 June 2024. The document, signed in June 2022, removes the need for Ukrainian carriers to obtain permits for bilateral and transit traffic to EU countries.
According to Deputy Prime Minister – the head of the Ministry of Transport Oleksandr Kubrakov in Facebook, the relevant agreement was reached at the first meeting of the joint committee of the Agreement on freight transport by road.
“During the first year the agreement has proved its practical effectiveness. For the period of its validity, the volume of bilateral and transit road freight traffic has increased by more than 50%,” he noted.
After the agreement was signed on June 29, 2022, the number of carriers crossing the border toward the EU increased by 53% compared to the same period in 2021, and the number of crossings itself increased by 43%.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted the potential for further growth, in particular through the joint development with European partners of the necessary logistical infrastructure at the border. He reminded that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, two new checkpoints have been opened on the Romanian border, as well as a control point on the temporary infrastructure for empty trucks at the border with Poland. In addition, the capacity of the Krakivets-Korcheva checkpoint was expanded and the operation of the Jagodin-Dorogusk checkpoint on the border with Poland was streamlined.
“The effective implementation of the “transport visa-free” brings us closer to our main foreign policy goal – gaining EU membership,” Kubrakov stressed.
Deputy Prime Minister reminded that the agreement also simplifies the procedure of recognition of driving documents: Ukraine and the EU have exempted holders of driving licenses issued by one of the parties from the requirement to have an international driving license.
All health care institutions in Ukraine must register and start working in the electronic health care system (EHS) by March 31, 2022.
As the Ministry of Health reminds on its website, this is stipulated by the licensing requirements for economic activities in medical practice and applies to all business entities.
In particular, the Ministry of Healthcare specifies that all legal entities carrying out medical practice business activities must be registered in EHS, except for entities engaged in business activities in the forensic medical areas.
In particular, the Ministry of Health notes that laboratory institutions, sanatoriums, and educational institutions that provide medical care within the institution should be registered in the EHR.
“The full transition to digital recording of all medical records will occur gradually and will involve additional changes in other regulatory and legal acts,” the department notes.
Civilian casualties from Feb. 24, 2022, after Russia launched its war against Ukraine, to March 12, 2023, totaled 2,965 civilians (March 5, 21,793), including 8,231 deaths (8,173), the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Monday.
“OHCHR believes that the real number of civilian deaths or injuries is significantly higher, as many reports from places where such cases have occurred continue to require further confirmation, while information from some places where fighting is ongoing is delayed,” the UN data document noted.
This is the case, for example, in such locations as Mariupol (Donetsk region), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Severodonetsk (Luhansk region), where numerous civilian deaths or injuries have been reported.
According to confirmed UN figures, 3,664 men, 2,173 women, 260 boys and 203 girls were killed, while the gender of 31 children and 1,900 adults could not yet be determined.
Among the 1,734 wounded, 413 boys and 295 girls, as well as 271 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to March 5, two children were killed and 11 others were wounded.
Whereas previously the OHCHR’s update on the number of casualties was issued daily, and then only on weekdays, it has become weekly since July. This report, like the previous one, provides data by month.
According to them, the number of deaths in February dropped to 138 from 198 in January and 205 in December, but in the first 12 days of March it was 84.
March remains the deadliest month for civilians, according to the UN, with at least 3,968 deaths. In April, according to an OHCHR publication, the number of civilian deaths due to the war dropped to 761, in May to 510, in June to 422 and in July to 378. There were 358 deaths in the first five days of the war from Feb. 24-28, 332 in August, 387 in September, 305 in October and 184 in November.
The number of wounded in February – 451 – was also the lowest since the beginning of the war: in January there were 539, in December – 617, in November – 541, in the first five days of the war last February – 464, and in the 12 days of this March – 209. In October the number of wounded dropped to 795 from 976 in September, when it was higher than the August figure of 917. Prior to that, the number of wounded exceeded a thousand each month: July – 1126, June – 1104, May – 1136, April – 1887, March – 2972.
According to the report, since the beginning of March this year, 72 people have been killed by large-area explosive weapons and another 182 have been wounded, while mines and explosive remnants of war have killed 12 people and wounded 27 (13 percent of total casualties).
Government-controlled territories accounted for 83 percent of the casualties in March, according to the UN.
The summary traditionally states that the increase in numbers to the previous summary should not be attributed only to cases after March 5, as the Office verified a number of cases from previous days during that period.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky discussed with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah As-Sisi the issues of strengthening food security and cooperation in the opening of food hubs in Africa by Ukraine.
According to the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian head of state on Thursday, the parties also noted the importance of extending the “grain initiative.”
“Supported the goals and principles of the UN Charter, in particular the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states,” the message said. Earlier, the “Club of experts” in a video review analyzed trade and economic relations between Egypt and Ukraine, see more at the link on the channel of the club:
Ukraine’s negative balance of foreign trade in goods in 2022 increased 2.3 times compared to 2021 – to $11.125 billion from $4.771 billion, the State Statistics Service (Gosstat) said on Tuesday.
According to its data, exports of goods from Ukraine for the year compared to the previous year decreased by 35.1% – to $44.149 billion, imports – by 24.1%, to $55.274 billion.
State Statistics said that in December 2022, compared to November of that year, seasonally adjusted exports decreased by 2.4% – to $3.376 billion, while imports rose by 9.8% – to $5.347 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in December 2022 was negative at $1.971 billion, while in November of that year it was also negative at $1.409 billion.
The ratio of exports to imports in 2022 was 0.80 (0.93 in 2021).
The State Statistics Committee specifies that foreign trade transactions were carried out with partners from 233 countries.
Earlier the Club of Experts analyzed in detail the macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine and other countries.
See more details in the video:
