The Cabinet of Ministers has legally confirmed the decision to terminate trade relations with the Russian Federation, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko has said.
“A very important decision was made. This is a legal confirmation of the actual termination of trade relations with the Russian Federation, which happened on February 24,” Svyrydenko said on the national telethon on Saturday evening following the government meeting.
According to her, such a decision would annually block Russia’s foreign exchange earnings by at least $6 billion.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, handed over to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky a questionnaire for joining the EU.
“Here we have intersecting roads, your road to the EU begins, this is already a close path. I will give you this folder, this questionnaire, here are the questions, you need to answer them. These are formal recommendations,” Leyen said at a press conference with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday.
Leyen stressed that Ukraine’s place is in the European family.
“We are with you in your dreams of Europe. I want to say very clearly: Ukraine has a place in the European family. We heard this statement from all your people, and we give you a positive answer to your request. This folder contains a very important stage of your arrival to this family. This is the basis for our discussions in the coming weeks,” she said.
In addition, the President of the European Commission stressed that this process will not last for years, as usual, but only weeks.
“Whatever the result, Ukraine has a very big step to recover, because Russia is brazenly destroying the infrastructure of Ukraine, the city of Ukraine. Therefore, we want to work together with you to reform Ukraine, restore Ukraine. This will positively determine Ukraine’s path to the EU “, Leyen also said.
She explained how the process usually takes place. “After a country submits an application, the Council of the EU decides that the Commission should issue its conclusion. Usually, it takes years. In the case of Ukraine, we are talking about weeks. We handed over our questionnaire, it will be filled in negotiations between Ukraine and the EU. This will be a picture of what is happening in the country, whether the country meets the Copenhagen criteria,” she said.
According to Leyen, Ukraine and the EU have agreed and committed that they will work on this important step to get all the answers to these detailed questions.
“It’s not just one question that determines our conclusion, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. We want to work shoulder to shoulder in order to paint a picture of the country and the path to Europe. After that, the Commission issues its conclusion, which is recommendation to the Council of the EU and after that the Council is already deciding on the next steps,” she said.
The gross domestic product of Ukraine in the first quarter of 2022 fell by 16% compared to the same period last year, the country’s Ministry of Economy estimates.
“Our forecast for GDP decline in the first quarter is 16%, and the annual decline could reach 40%,” First Deputy Minister Denis Kudin is quoted in a press release from the department.
He noted that those industries where remote work is impossible, in particular, aviation, maritime transportation, and the service sector, where businesses work directly with consumers, have suffered the most.
At the same time, Kudin pointed out that over the past 10 days, the economy as a whole has begun to recover, business in safe regions is returning to work, and farmers have begun sowing.
The ministry noted that in the process of economic recovery, special attention will be paid to supporting industries that directly provide for the livelihoods of citizens and strengthen the defense capability of the state. “We are talking about agriculture, food production, retail, utilities and energy services, industries working on mobilization orders,” the press release says.
According to the Ministry of Economy, Ukraine in March of this year exported 5.97 million tons of goods worth $2.7 billion, which is more than half the quantity and value indicators for February. Imports fell three times – to 1.6 million tons for $1.8 billion.
Ores, corn, ferroalloys and oil remained the main export items. The export of metals (including flat-rolled products – decreased by almost 10 times, to 47,000 tons) and agricultural products was especially affected, the ministry noted.
“For some metallurgy positions, exports were not made at all. This is primarily due to the physical destruction of metallurgical facilities and the stoppage of production,” the ministry commented.
In March, Ukraine exported 1.1 million tons of corn, 309 thousand tons of wheat, 118 thousand tons of sunflower oil, 40 thousand tons of soybeans. This is four times less than in February.
Currently, the most important imports are gas, oil, oil products and coal.
Given the closure of transit through the territory of Belarus and the Russian Federation, as well as an increase in the number of freight transport by road, a number of restrictions are being removed or adjusted from April 4, 2022, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine announced on its Facebook page on Monday.
According to the report, in particular, the period of validity of the electronic application for permits has been extended from seven to 10 days.
In addition, the following changes have been adopted for carriers: Poland – increased to five permits of all types per vehicle from April to May; Czech Republic – increased to two permits of all types but one vehicle up to 10 tons (for a month); Serbia – the restriction on travel across the country for vehicles up to 10 tons has been lifted; Romania – temporary registration of permits of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan for vehicles of the ecological standard Euro-3 and higher.
The Ministry of Infrastructure notes that from the very beginning of the war, it has been conducting systemic negotiations with partner countries on the abolition of the permit system for the period of martial law.
“As of April 4, we managed to agree on the cancellation of bilateral and transit permits for transportation through the territory of six countries of the European Union, in particular from Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, as well as through the territory of Georgia and Turkey. Slovakia also provided transportation without permits,” the report says.
In addition, as noted, a mechanism has been established for permit-free passage of all humanitarian cargo with Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania.
Spending on the payment of salaries in the public sector has been reduced by 10%, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.
“We have already reduced the total cost of wages in the public sector, except for the budgetary sector, meaning civil servants, not teachers and not doctors, by 10%. We have reduced costs by 10% in the Cabinet of Ministers, the President’s Office, the Verkhovna Rada,” Shmyhal said in an interview on the air of the national telethon on Friday morning.
The prime minister noted that the authorities intend, if necessary, to continue the trend to reduce the cost of wages in the public sector.
He also added that expenditures directly on the functioning of the government, parliament and the President’s Office have also decreased.
“Everything that can be abandoned, we do away with, and we redirect everything to the needs of the army and the Armed Forces,” Shmyhal said.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers has canceled the payment of labor intensity bonuses for the prime minister, ministers, their deputies and heads of regional and Kyiv state administrations until 2024.
So far, none of the allies has provided their vision of security guarantees for Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said.
“I did not raise the issue of security guarantees at the meeting, because we know exactly the list of allies that we see as potential security guarantors with whom we are negotiating on a bilateral basis. But in my bilateral meetings here, we raise and discuss this issue with them. They receive a better understanding of what we want. But we are still discussing. None of them have given us their vision of security guarantees at the moment,” Kuleba said at a press conference after attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.
