Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will pay an official visit to France on June 17 and to Germany on June 18, the Presidential Administration has reported.
“The program of the visits envisages meetings of the head of state with the leadership of France and Germany, the heads of parliaments, as well as with leading French and German business representatives,” the administration said on its Facebook page on Thursday.
The Verkhovna Rada has ratified an agreement between the governments of Ukraine and France regarding the official support of a project on supply of drinking water to the city of Mariupol (Donetsk region). An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that a total of 258 lawmakers backed the agreement. According to the Framework Agreement, the French side provides Ukraine with a loan in an amount not exceeding EUR 64 million for the project on supply of drinking water to Mariupol.
The agreement also provides for the development of a master plan for improving the water supply and drainage system of Mariupol until 2040.
According to an explanatory note to the bill on ratification, the project will include the construction and launch of modern filtering stations in Mariupol, as well as the modernization of the existing centralized water supply pipelines and drainage system to reduce the consumption of drinking water and discharge of sewage into the environment.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance of France has allocated a grant of EUR 560,000 to Ukraine to finance a joint project of Ukrenergo and RTE International for the implementation of Ukraine’s first energy storage system, the press service of the Ukrainian company has reported. According to its data, in the next six months, RTE International plans to implement the first phase of the project: a feasibility study and technical assignments for further work. At the second stage, the possible cost will be determined, a model of the future storage system and a roadmap will be created with a list of all necessary measures for the implementation of the joint project.
Ukrenergo notes that the project is of a great importance for the future development of the Ukrainian energy sector and the integration of the domestic energy system into the energy system of continental Europe, since one of the requirements is to ensure the required amount of primary frequency control.
In addition, over the past few years, there has been an increase in wind and solar power generation in Ukraine, which will require the construction of additional highly maneuverable capacities that meet the environmental requirements of European countries.
“The start of cooperation with RTE, the leading player in the European market, the implementation of a complicated and innovative energy storage project is a significant step towards our European integration and the strengthening of Ukraine’s energy security,” Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk said.
Ukraine and France plan to create a joint meteocluster for agriculture, the press service of the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry has reported. “We are planning to create a joint meteocluster for agriculture and assistance to farmers. This is about bringing new technologies to the processing of meteorological data. This is necessary to obtain more accurate weather data, increase harvest and crop protection, introduce system monitoring of climate change and further modeling,” Deputy Prime Minister, Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko said.
According to the report, the Ukrainian-French intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation came to the relevant agreements.
According to the press service of the ministry, the representatives of the countries also agreed on attracting French companies to the development of Ukrainian farms, investments in seed production, and on strengthening cooperation in animal husbandry, in particular, in the dairy sector.
In addition, the countries plan to develop cooperation in IT and cybersecurity, and French companies will take part in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, as well as in public procurement through the ProZorro e-procurement system.
Ukraine in the first half of 2018 exported fruit and berries worth $100 million, which is 59% more than in the same period of 2017. According to the Ukrsadprom association, the main products in the structure of exports remain walnuts worth $64 million, frozen berries for $23 million, apples and pears for $8 million. “Compared with last year, the volume of walnut exports increased from 12,000 to 19,000 tonnes, apples and pears from 6,000 to 24,000 tonnes, while the deliveries of frozen berries decreased slightly from 17,000 to 14,000 tonnes,” the report says.
The main buyers of Ukrainian gardening products, according to the association, are the countries of the European Union, which account for more than 60% of the value of exports.
“In the six months, the largest fruit supplies in monetary terms from Ukraine were made to Poland for $11.2 million, France for $9.9 million, Turkey for $9.3 million, Belarus for $8 million, Germany for $5.1 million, Greece for $5 million and the Netherlands for $4.7 million,” the report says.
As noted, Ukrainian apples are mostly delivered to Belarus (46% of the value of supplies), Moldova (21%), and Sweden (10%).
BELARUS, BERRY, EXPORT, FRANCE, FRUIT, GERMANY, POLAND, TURKEY
Twelve companies from eleven countries have submitted bids for the construction of a waste recycling plant in Lviv, the press service of Lviv City Council said with reference to Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy. “These companies have the most extensive experience in the construction of waste recycling facilities in Europe and around the world. The commission will study each company’s background and the next stage is to select one of the companies,” the press service quoted Sadovy as saying.
According to the report, the examination of documents for the compliance with the qualification requirements will take 30 days after which a list of the companies admitted to the next stage of the tender will be made public.
The following companies submitted bids for the tender: Eggersmann Anlagenbau GmbH (Germany), Control Process S.A. (Poland), СМЕС (China Machinery Engineering Corporation, PRC); Ceres Group SAS (France), ECONOVA (JSC ECONOVA, Poland), HELECTOR S. A (Greece), M-U-T (Austria), JV EFACEC-TAHAL (Israel), Atzwanger AG (Italy), Axis-Waste Treatment Technologies (the Netherlands), RIKO, industrijski, gradbeni inženiring in leasing, d.o.o. (Slovenia), and 3B Hungaria (Hungary).
According to the tender requirements, the construction of the waste recycling plant with the capacity of 240,000 tonnes of garbage per year should take 24 months. After the launch, the winner of the tender will service the facility and train local specialists for a year.
On June 1, 2018, Lviv City Council and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an agreement on the issue EUR 35 million for the construction of the waste recycling plant and the rehabilitation of the Hrybovychi solid household waste landfill.
AUSTRIA, CONSTRUCTION, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, ISRAEL, LVIV, POLAND, WASTE RECYCLING PLANT
