Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to pay a visit to Veliobritain next week, The Guardian reports.
According to the publication, Zelensky will also make his first visit to Ireland on Saturday morning. He is scheduled to meet with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris there.
Ireland, which has long maintained a policy of military neutrality but has provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine, is expected to offer more support. In particular, it will support Ukraine’s efforts to return some 20,000 children who were forcibly displaced to Russia and Belarus.
The Ukrainian president met with British Prime Minister-designate Keir Starmer at the NATO summit in Washington last week, but this will be his first opportunity to meet with a wider delegation from the Labor government, which will be keen to confirm further UK support.
The conference is reportedly the fourth meeting of the European Policy Community, a collective set up after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which was the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron.
“It is designed to foster stronger ties between EU and non-EU leaders in an informal setting. Previous conferences have been held in Spain, Moldova and the Czech Republic,” it said.
In addition to the UK, non-EU countries invited include Norway, Iceland, Georgia, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and Turkey, although Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, who has not attended previous summits, has not confirmed his participation.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Yevhen Perebyinis has accepted copies of his credentials from the new Ambassador of His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Ukraine, Martin Harris.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Perebyinis congratulated the Ambassador on the beginning of his diplomatic mission in Ukraine, expressing hope that his work in our country will contribute to further deepening of Ukrainian-British relations.
“The interlocutors discussed the full range of issues of cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom, exchanged views on concrete steps to deepen cooperation in the context of Ukraine’s course towards NATO membership, as well as the implementation of international initiatives to support Ukraine,” the statement said.
The parties paid special attention to the issue of strengthening sanctions pressure on Russia and the functioning of the Black Sea “grain corridor” to ensure global food security.
The Deputy Minister thanked the UK for supporting Ukraine and strengthening the country’s defense capabilities.
Earlier, the British government announced that Martin Harris will become the British Ambassador to Ukraine, replacing Melinda Simmons, and the rotation will take place in September 2023.
Martin Harris already worked in Kyiv in 2003-2008 and held the position of Deputy Ambassador and Consul General.
Melinda Simmons has been head of the British diplomatic mission in Ukraine since 2019. She will continue to work in the diplomatic service in another position.
Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom Vadym Prystaiko, on behalf of the Cabinet of Ministers, signed a Ukrainian-British framework agreement providing for the allocation of funds for the construction of eight missile boats, the acquisition of two minesweepers from the United Kingdom, and the creation of two naval bases in Ukraine, the ZN.UA publication said on Saturday.
The signed agreement details the financial side of the agreements, that is the loan totaling GBP 1.7 billion provided to Ukraine by the U.K. for ten years.
Thanks to the U.K., Ukraine covers the primary needs of the country’s naval forces, which must be ready to contain Russia’s aggression from the Black and Azov Seas, ZN.UA said.
Agreements on the development and strengthening of the Ukrainian Navy were reached a year ago. During the last year’s visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to London, a memorandum on strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom in the military and military-technical sectors was signed. The memorandum stipulated the raising of financing from the UK’s export credit agency in the amount of GBP 1.25 billion. In the summer 2021, in Odesa, a memorandum on maritime partnership projects between the consortium of British industry and the Ukrainian Navy was signed.
Since October 11, citizens of Ukraine have the right to visit France, who have completed a full course of vaccination with Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, R-Pharm, and seven days have passed since the last dose was received (28 days Johnson and Johnson), the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has said.
According tothe State Border Guard Service’s statement in the Telegram channel on Monday, the United Kingdom has recognized Ukrainian vaccination certificates and from October 11 will accept Ukrainian citizens who have completed a full course by Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer medicines.
An agreement on political cooperation, free trade and strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland may commence on January 1, Deputy Minister of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
“The agreement on political cooperation, free trade and strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been ratified. The British Parliament has already completed its procedure. So we are working ‘at full steam’ so that the agreement will commence from January 1,” Kachka wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
According to him, the agreement provides for the abolition of duties on industrial products, with the exception of fertilizers, electronics and cars.
“Small exceptions regarding fertilizers, electronics and cars may (but not necessarily will) be subject to a duty of no more than 1-2% over the next two years. And from 2023 there will be no duties on industrial products at all,” the trade representative said.
According to him, Brexit will also allow more flexibility in the anti-dumping and protective measures applied to Ukraine now. This applies to metallurgical products, hot-rolled products, sheet products and rods.
At the same time, all agricultural goods that are not subject to tariff quotas are exempt from duties, the trade representative said.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko will visit the United Kingdom on January 15-16, where he intends to meet with the foreign ministers of five countries whose citizens died as a result of the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane in Iran. “On January 15-16, 2020, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko will pay a working visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” the Foreign Ministry’s press service said on Wednesday.
It is noted that during the visit, Prystaiko will take part in the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden and Afghanistan in order to coordinate efforts to ensure a proper investigation of the circumstances of the UIA plane crash of PS 752 flight in Tehran.
