At Kyiv Security Forum, organized by Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation on Wednesday, some 12 points were presented to strengthen the strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine.
According to the document, titled “12 Points of Strategic Partnership Between the United States and Ukraine,” the arrival of President of the United States Joseph Biden and the new U.S. Administration offers an opportunity to deepen the strategic partnership and commitment between the United States and Ukraine, as well as advance the interests of both states.
“We, American and Ukrainian politicians and diplomats, former officials, experts and public figures, urge the governments of both countries to develop an ambitious and comprehensive agenda that will deepen our strategic relationship. This agenda should promote mutual interests, contribute to strengthening security and stability in Central and Eastern Europe, promote Ukraine’s further integration into the EU and NATO membership, and outline and prioritize transformative democratic reforms necessary for the full development of Ukraine’s economy and its transatlantic movement progress,” according to a statement.
The officials said in the document that mutual dedication to strengthening democratic values must always remain at the core of the U.S. and Ukrainian relations.
“This implies strengthening democracy and the rule of law, individual freedom, freedom of speech, full independence of the judiciary and anti-corruption institutions, greater transparency and accountability of government actions and open governance, independence of the media and an active civil society. Solidarity and concrete actions to promote these values are needed to strengthening mutual trust, understanding the democratic aspirations of Ukrainians and providing a common basis for cooperation between both countries,” the experts said.
They said the United States and Ukraine must act together to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and contain further Russian aggression.
“This implies expanding our strategic partnership and defense cooperation and the United States seeking new opportunities to increase defense assistance in order to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to deter Russia’s offensive. This means continuing to provide lethal defense assistance and strengthening the Navy. Other areas of possible military cooperation include the development of special operations forces, anti-aircraft and coastal defense,” the officials said in the document.
Its signatories believe that the United States and Ukraine must maintain close dialogue in order to increase the Kremlin’s cost of continued Russian aggression against Ukraine. The United States should also consult closely with Europe on this issue, in particular on strengthening sanctions.
They believe that such negotiations, as well as negotiations with Russia on Ukraine, should be based on the principle “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
“In consultations with Ukraine and its European partners, the Joseph Biden Administration should explore the possibilities of more active involvement at the highest level by the United States in the negotiation process, which is now being conducted by the German Chancellor and the French President, in order to break the situation and contribute to a real end to the conflict in Donbas , the withdrawal of all Russian and Russian-controlled forces and the restoration of Ukraine’s full sovereignty over Donbas,” the experts said in the document.
The experts also said the United States and Ukraine should also consult on the political, diplomatic and economic steps necessary to bring Crimea back to Ukraine.
“They must work together to ensure international compliance with the principle ‘Crimea is Ukraine’ and maintain the sanctions adopted against Russia for the illegal seizure of the peninsula. We welcome the efforts of the Ukrainian government to create the Crimean Platform as an initiative that will keep the issue of occupied Crimea on the international agenda of the day and remind people, including Russia, that Crimea remains Ukrainian in the eyes of the international community,” according to the document.
In addition, the signatories to the document believe that the United States and Ukraine should consult on steps to strengthen security and stability in the Black Sea region, in particular with the support of NATO and European partners.
“The United States, together with NATO allies, should continue to regularly deploy air, land and sea forces in the region where Russia, Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus converge,” the experts said.
It also noted that in recent years, the United States and Ukraine have become targets of Russian political intervention, disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks.
“They should exchange their experience and share best practices in combating these and other forms of Russian hybrid warfare,” according to the recommendations.
It is stressed that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, if completed, would threaten Euro-Atlantic unity and deprive Ukraine of significant transit revenues.
“The United States and Ukraine should consult on how to build and maintain a transatlantic position against the completion of the pipeline, as well as actions that Russia can take against Ukraine to lift the Nord Stream 2 sanctions. At the same time, Ukraine should undertake major reforms to improve energy efficiency and root out corruption in this and other sectors,” the experts said in the statement.
The experts said the United States and Ukraine must work together to advance Ukraine’s NATO integration and Kyiv’s ultimate goal of NATO membership.
“The United States must firmly adhere to NATO’s open door policy and advise Kyiv on how best to prepare for membership, as NATO leaders pledged at the Bucharest summit in 2008. Ukraine must commit to the necessary reforms and practical steps that will lead to its military and other security and defense structures are in line with NATO standards and norms,” according to the document.
It is noted that Ukraine’s membership in NATO will strengthen the North Atlantic Alliance, contribute to the historical unification of Europe and create the preconditions for the transformation of relations with Russia.
Moreover, the renewed U.S.-Ukrainian partnership is associated with the willingness of the Ukrainian authorities to quickly implement transformational democratic reforms and actively act to protect and strengthen the independence of such key institutions as the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and others.
“For a strong anti-corruption work, effective reforms of the prosecutor’s office and the judicial system are necessary. Ukraine must also make irreversible the significant reforms already achieved, in particular in the areas of the land market, privatization of state-owned enterprises, the independence of the National Bank of Ukraine, decentralization, transparency of fiscal and budgetary policies in addition to reforms in the gas sector, reforms in the public procurement system and on the transparency of assets and incomes of civil servants and parliamentarians,” the experts said in the document.
In addition, important are steps to remove the excessive influence of oligarchs, establish the rule of law with fair economic norms and practices for large, medium, small and foreign businesses, as well as to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ukrainian state – all this is crucial for improving the lives of Ukrainian citizens, the experts said.
They said Ukraine should ensure the protection of property rights for all Ukrainian and foreign investors.
“While the Ukrainian authorities should urgently focus on reform, seeing them as urgent tasks, the United States, in coordination with international financial institutions, the European Union and partners from the Group of Seven (G7), should continue to provide support helping Ukraine build a modern democratic an economy fully compatible with the standards and norms of the European Union. In this sense, Copenhagen criteria of the EU form a clear roadmap. Such assistance should directly depend on the implementation of effective reforms,” according to the document.
Among the American signers are Francis Fukuyama; former Deputy Secretary General of NATO Alexander Vershbow; former Ambassadors of the United States to Ukraine John Herbst, Marie Yovanovitch, Steven Pifer, Roman Popadiuk, William Taylor, as well as members of the United States Congress, high-ranked diplomats and well-known experts.
Among the Ukrainian signers are Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum and Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-2016 Arseniy Yatsenyuk; Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk; Co-chair of Lviv Security Forum and former Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 2014-2019 Oksana Syroid; former Secretaries of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Volodymyr Horbulin, Oleksandr Turchunov and Andriy Parubiy; Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze; public figures Josef Zissels and Myroslav Marynovych; diplomats Volodymyr Ohryzko, Danylo Lubkivsky, Valeriy Chaly, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, Volodymyr Vasylenko, Yuri Scherbak, Oleh Shamshur, Oleksandr Motsyk, Volodymyr Handogiy, Roman Bezsmertnyi, as well as members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the Servants of the People, European Solidarity, Holos and Batkivschyna factions.
ARSENIY YATSENYUK, KYIV SECURITY FORUM, PARTNERSHIP, UKRAINE, UNITED STATES
Ukraine in January-February of this year reduced the export of pig iron in kind by 24.4% compared to the same period last year, to 383,523 tonnes.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service on Tuesday, during the specified period, the export of cast iron in monetary terms grew by 0.7%, to $154.176 million.
At the same time, cast iron was mainly exported to the United States (66.92% of deliveries in monetary terms), as well as to Turkey (8.84%) and Brazil (7.38%).
In January-February-2021, Ukraine imported 34 tonnes of cast iron worth $29,000 from Germany (60%) and Slovakia (40%), while in the first two months of 2020 it imported 100 tonnes of similar products worth $71,000.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba states that the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States will develop regardless of who wins the American presidential election.
“My only wish regarding the American elections is that they end as soon as possible, the U.S. president-elect take the oath and we could move on in developing a strategic partnership between our countries, which, I am sure, will develop under any president. The only question is the speed of development,” said the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
He stressed that Ukraine was, is and will be on the sidelines of the U.S. presidential campaign. “We were, are and will be on the sidelines of this campaign. We believe that American democracy is mature enough to make decisions and make choices that are in the interests of the American people,” Kuleba said.
The minister also pointed out that Ukraine’s largest asset in the United States is bipartisan support.
“In fact, there is a clear position of the president, which has been stressed many times, there is a clear position of the Foreign Ministry that Ukraine’s largest asset in the United States is bipartisan support. This is the fundamental principle of our policy towards the United States. The president’s surname or party affiliation does not matter as long as Ukraine is equally supported by both democrats and republicans,” Kuleba added.
The postal and logistics operator Trade House Meest Express LLC (Meest Express, Lviv) has launched air delivery from the United States to Lviv.
“Meest is the first Ukrainian postal and logistic company with its own air delivery from the United States. Today we met the charter flight we rented in Lviv – Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner of the LOT airline – with parcels of our dear customers,” President of Meest Rostyslav Kysil wrote on his Facebook page.
He also said that this flight was the first transatlantic flight in Lviv.
The Lviv international airport said in a report that the Polish airline LOT performed the first test flight for Meest Express.
“We are very pleased with the opening of long-haul cargo transportation to Lviv. Since the onset of the aviation crisis, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have actively switched to finding alternative sources of income… Today, we have a beautiful Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner cargo aircraft from the airline LOT, performing a test presentation flight. Next, we will continue to work on which airline will deliver goods to Lviv,” Director General of the Lviv airport Tetiana Romanovska said.
According to her, the opening of such flights will save the situation with the financial condition of the enterprise and will provide an opportunity to improve it in the winter.
“From now on, the Lviv airport becomes not only a passenger, but also a cargo aviation hub,” Romanovska said.
Meest Group is part of Meest Corporation Inc. (Toronto, Canada). It provides postal and logistics services in 20 countries: Canada, the United States, Ukraine, Australia, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland, China, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Israel.
Nova Poshta Global (NPG), a member of Nova Poshta group of companies, launches scheduled flights from/to the United States and China.
The company’s press service said on Tuesday that flights by the order of Nova Poshta Global will be operated several times a week and deliver both parcels from Ukraine and purchases made by Ukrainians in online stores of these countries.
Together with partners, the company has already launched six scheduled flights, namely, five flights to/from the United States and one to/from China. Four flights in the direction of Warsaw-New York-Warsaw are operated by European airlines Lufthansa and LOT, and one weekly direct flight Kyiv-New York-Kyiv of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). Nova Poshta Global launched another weekly flight to/from China in cooperation with the Ukrainian company SkyUp.
“We launched scheduled flights with our regular partners Lufthansa, LOT and UIA, and last week we began cooperation with Ukrainian airline SkyUp. The first flight of this airline has already delivered 1,801 parcels for our customers with a total weight of 17 tonnes, including both individual orders and commercial goods. This is only part of the parcels that Nova Poshta Global delivers to Ukraine from China weekly. We deliver on average about 25,000 parcels weighing more than 38 tonnes per week from the United States,” the press service said, citing Nova Poshta Global CEO Yuriy Benevytsky.
According to Nova Poshta Global, orders from the United States increased by 4.7 times in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, which was due to cooperation with the American online store iHerb, namely, some 230,000 parcels with a total weight of 360 tonnes were delivered from that store for the first quarter of 2020.
According to the data provided, the number of deliveries of NP Shopping service has also increased in particular some 81,000 parcels were delivered in the first quarter, which is 32% more than in the same period in 2019.
However, the company’s customers began not only to order more from abroad, but also to send abroad. Thus, for the first quarter of 2020, the volume of export shipments of individuals increased by 12%, and business customer shipments doubled compared to the same period in 2019. Almost 78% are parcels and goods, some 12% are documents.
Nova Poshta Global (formerly Nova Poshta International) has been providing international express delivery services since 2015, and is part of the Nova Poshta group of companies. Nova Poshta Global is developing the NP Shopping service – the delivery from online stores in the United States, China, Britain and Poland, provides import and export services for businesses and the ability to ship from any Nova Poshta branch to most countries of the world.
Ukraine from October 30, 2019 will return to the U.S. General System of Preferences, according to a proclamation of U.S. President Donald Trump. “On Saturday Kyiv time or on Friday night in Washington, the news came out that Trump has completely returned Ukraine to the General System of Preferences,” Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, Ukraine’s trade representative Taras Kachka said at a press briefing on Monday.
He said that all 155 types of goods that were removed from the system of preferences, again will receive the possibility of duty-free trade in the United States.
“These are mainly food processing products – confectionery product… [and also] industrial products, especially complex engineering products,” Kachka said.
He said that the return to the system of preferences was made possible thanks to the progress in introducing new legislation on collective management organizations (CMOs).
“This is unlikely to affect trade statistics, since these are not mass products, but will positively influence small and medium-sized businesses,” Kachka added.
As reported, in 2018, the United States suspended the General System of Preferences, which allows the import of more than 3,500 types of goods to the United States duty free, for 155 types of Ukrainian goods due to systematic copyright violation.
