The competent authorities of Ukraine and Jordan have agreed on the form of a certificate for the export of milk and dairy products from Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“This week we opened another market, namely, the export of Ukrainian milk to Jordan. The competent authorities of the two states agreed on the form of a certificate for the export of milk and dairy products from Ukraine. The concrete result of the joint work of diplomats and specialists of the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Thursday.
He said that Ukrainian dairy products are of very high quality and therefore are in great demand abroad. According to Kuleba, this is the third certificate agreed between Ukraine and Jordan in 2021.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to systematically open new foreign markets for Ukrainian exporters together with the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection. Each new open market provides additional opportunities for Ukrainian companies, the strengthening of our national currency, the arrival of foreign currency to Ukraine, new jobs, taxes to the budget, the best salaries for our citizens,” he said.
The Foreign Minister said that not only exporting companies will benefit from the expansion of Ukrainian goods abroad, but every citizen of Ukraine involved in economic activity.
The Verkhovna Rada intends to simplify the procedure for granting citizenship to foreigners who protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The adoption of the relevant bill No. 5630 at the first reading was supported by 302 MPs at an extraordinary plenary session on Tuesday.
The bill proposes to simplify the procedure for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship by citizens of a state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an aggressor or occupier who have been persecuted for political reasons, by foreigners and stateless persons who are doing military service under contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and are also directly involved in measures to ensure national security and defense of Ukraine, the containment of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In addition, the final and transitional provisions of the draft law provide for the possibility of submitting a declaration of renunciation of foreign citizenship by persons who received Ukrainian citizenship before the entry into force of this draft law.
Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) has declined to book additional transit capacity via Ukraine and Poland for Q1 2022, according to the results of booking auctions on GSA Platform and Regional Booking Platform.
Gazprom has been refraining from long-term bookings this year, preferring mostly monthly contracts.
Liberalization of the European gas market has resulted in the rejection of long-term transit agreements. Transparent auction bookings have replaced the long-term agreements in order to eliminate excess booking costs from the gas price. Consequently, those shipping gas are free to book only their required capacity amount, and for the time when the capacity would be necessary.
UKRAINE
Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine distributed the proposed capacity along two routes, with 9.8 million cubic meters per day offered at the Sudzha gas-measuring station, and an additional 5.2 million cubic meters per day offered at the Sokhranovka gas-measuring station, though they were unclaimed.
Gazprom has a long-term booking of Ukrainian capacities totaling 40 billion cubic meters, which is 109 million cubic meters per day.
POLAND
Gazprom also did not book any capacity via the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline for the first quarter of 2022. The 2,000-km Yamal-Europe gas pipeline has the capacity to pump up to 33 billion cubic meters per year. The EuRoPol Gaz joint venture owns Poland’s 683-km section of the pipeline, and the national gas transmission operator Gaz-System operates the pipeline. Gazprom’s long-term contract for transit via Poland ended a year ago, with capacity since then being allocated based on auction bookings. For the gas year from October 2020 to September 2021, Gazprom booked capacity at an annual auction. The company then booked part of the pipeline’s capacities at monthly auctions.
The Council of the European Union has added Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Peru to the list of countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted. Ukraine also remained on the list of countries for whose residents the EU Council recommends gradually lifting travel restrictions at external borders.
“Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Peru were added to the list,” the EU Council said in a statement on the website on Friday.
As stipulated in the Council’s recommendation, this list will continue to be reviewed every two weeks and updated as appropriate.
Ukraine and Turkey are considering the meeting of the Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey co-chaired by both presidents in February 2022 as an opportunity to sign a free trade agreement (FTA), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“Next year, Ukraine and Turkey will celebrate 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. To mark this occasion, we plan to hold the next session of the Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey under the co-chairmanship of both presidents. A number of agreements and documents are currently being prepared ahead of next year’s Strategic Council. Both sides see the February 2022 meeting as an opportunity to finally sign a long-awaited Turkish-Ukrainian free trade agreement following years of negotiations,” Kuleba wrote in an article for the Atlantic Council released on Thursday.
Once in force, he said, this free trade deal will significantly boost already strong trade ties between the two Black Sea countries and facilitate the establishment of new business links.
“With bilateral trade steadily growing, we also plan to hold a joint intergovernmental trade and economic commission in the near future,” Kuleba said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also said that Ukraine and Turkey are developing plans to unite forces in the production of Ukrainian Antonov aircraft.
“Our Turkish friends were very impressed with the capabilities of Ukrainian Antonov aircraft for extinguishing fires. During the last meeting with my Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Lviv in October 2021, he expressed Turkey’s interest in Antonov aircraft. Ukraine welcomes this interest and is ready to explore the possibilities of joint aircraft production Antonov and international exports,” the minister said.
Kuleba said that with the climate crisis escalating, the threat of wildfires in Turkey and dozens of other countries around the globe looks like it is here to stay, along with increased demand for firefighting aviation.
“This makes the proposed aviation industry cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine strategically appealing. We plan to discuss this topic in more depth during our next Quadriga meeting of foreign and defense ministers, which will take place in December 2021 in Ankara,” he said.
Ukraine and Egypt will hold the Intergovernmental Joint Commission on Economic and Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Cairo on December 14 to December 16, the Economy Ministry said on the website, following the meeting of Deputy Economy Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka with Egyptian Ambassador to Ukraine Ayman Elgammal.
“We are currently conducting a study on the possibility of concluding an agreement on a free trade area with Egypt. Ukraine is interested in increasing the supply of agricultural and food products, vehicles, electrical equipment, engineering products,” the ministry’s press service said, citing Kachka.
He said that Egypt occupies a leading position among the countries of Africa and the Arab world in terms of trade with Ukraine. According to the results within the period of January-August 2021, trade between the countries amounted to $1.044 billion, for the entire last year to $1.7 billion.
According to the Ukrainian side, a major project of the Egyptian government, namely the construction of the new capital Vedian is interesting concerning the possibility of participation of Ukrainian business.
