Business news from Ukraine

PM Orbán: Hungary ready to provide financial aid to Ukraine on bilateral basis

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary did not veto EU macro-financial assistance to Ukraine and that Budapest is ready to provide financial assistance to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
“Today’s news was all about Hungary vetoing financial assistance to Ukraine. This is fake news. Hungary is ready to provide financial assistance to Ukraine on a bilateral basis. No veto, no blackmailing,” he said in Twitter.
At the same time, Orbán said “we do want to convince the EU member states that common EU debt is not the solution.”
“We envision a different future for Europe. One built on strong member states, instead of huge piles of common debt,” he said.

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Hungary has blocked allocation of EUR18bn to Ukraine from EU, search for solution will continue

Hungarian Finance Minister Mihai Varga on behalf of the country spoke out against the adoption of legislative amendments by the European Council that would allow Ukraine to allocate EUR 18bn in macrofinancial aid plus in 2023.
Nevertheless, the EU will continue to seek a solution that would be supported by all member states.
“Hungary opposes the amendment of the financial legislation,” he said Tuesday in Brussels on the sidelines of the open part of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council.
In particular, Hungary opposed the amendment to the multiyear financial legislation, which must be passed unanimously.
At the same time, ministers voted by qualified majority macro-financial assistance plus (MFA+) and an amendment to the financial regulations.
Czech Finance Minister Zbigniew Stanjura, who chaired the meeting, commenting on the situation, said: “Unfortunately, we were not able to pass the package as a whole. Nevertheless, this will not cool down our ambitions to start allocating our aid to Ukraine from the beginning of January. I ask the Economic and Financial Committee to find an alternative solution. That means that we will have to find a solution that all countries will support. We will find a solution to support Ukraine.

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Hungary will allocate funds for transportation of food products within “Grain from Ukraine” initiative

Hungary will allocate funds for the transportation of food products from Ukraine within the “Grain from Ukraine” initiative, as well as provide logistical support, said the President of Hungary Katalin Novak.
“We support Ukraine at the bilateral level. We have allocated more than 172 million euros, and today Hungary has committed to provide $3.5 million to ensure the transportation of 10 thousand tons of wheat and food products,” – said Novak at the summit on food security.
She also called for the use of the Ukrainian-Hungarian border as an additional food transportation channel.
“We support not only financially, we also support logistically. Our special terminal on the border between Hungary and Ukraine should increase and speed up the transportation of necessary goods,” the president said.
“And, of course, this is all happening because of the war in Ukraine. And democratic channels must be restored. In the end, there must be a just peace, a peace for all of us,” she stressed.

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More than EUR66 million allocated for cross-border cooperation of Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine

More than EUR66 million will be allocated under the first Interreg NEXT European cross-border cooperation program for Hungary, Slovakia and Romania’s partnership with Ukraine in health, environment and good governance, the European Commission (EC) announced Friday. “This program is part of the EU’s overall support and unwavering solidarity toward Ukraine. By implementing a cohesion policy, Interreg will help Ukraine and its bordering member states to face common challenges and seize joint opportunities,” said Elisa Ferreira, EC member for cohesion policy and reforms.
The program covers the period of 2021-2027. Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine are expected to work together to ensure equal access to health services and improve the sustainability of their health systems.
The program will support climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention solutions. The participating countries will cooperate to protect nature, develop “green infrastructure” and tourism.
It is also a question of aligning Ukraine’s norms with EU member states in the area of effective public administration. Relevant projects will promote legal and administrative cooperation to remove common barriers to interaction in border areas, while supporting cooperation between citizens, civil societies and state institutions, according to a communiqué from the European Commission.

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Tomorrow, from 9:00 to 12:00, Dzvonkovoe customs post on border with Hungary will not work

On Wednesday morning, the Dzvonkovoe customs post on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border will temporarily stop working, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports.

“Tomorrow, from 9:00 to 12:00, the Dzvonkovoe customs post will not operate due to installation work. Plan your route in advance,” the message on the Telegram channel says.

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Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia in transit through Ukraine should resume soon

A Ukrainian transport company reacted positively to the proposal of Slovnaft and MOL to pay transit fees for transporting oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline, the Slovak company said.
“Slovnaft has already made a payment to the company’s account. Based on this, Slovnaft expects the resumption of oil supplies in the coming days. The Russian side also agreed with this decision,” the company stressed.
According to Bloomberg, the Hungarian MOL also transferred the transit payment and expects to resume deliveries in the coming days.
Earlier, Transneft reported that on August 4, Ukrtransnafta stopped the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine due to a failure to pay the transit fee. It was noted that the funds sent on July 22 for transit in August were returned to the account of Transneft on July 28 in connection with the entry into force of EU Regulation 2022/1269. Through the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline passing through the territory of Ukraine, oil supplies are carried out in the direction of the refineries of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the basis of a long-term agreement between PJSC Transneft and JSC Ukrtransnafta for the provision of oil transportation services on the terms of 100% prepayment.
The Hungarian MOL and the Slovak Slovnaft (also part of the MOL group) initiated discussions with the Ukrainian and Russian sides on the possibility of paying a transit fee to MOL or Slovnaft, which would allow oil supplies to be restored.
“The interruption of supplies occurred after technical problems at the bank level due to the payment of transit fees from the Russian side. However, production at the Bratislava refinery is running smoothly, and deliveries to the market are smooth. During this period, the Bratislava refinery is in close cooperation with the national oil transporter Transpetrol, as well as in cooperation with the Slovak Ministry of Economy, uses all the reserves available in the system for processing,” Slovnaft said.
So far, there have been no reports of a solution to the problem of transit to the Czech Republic.
Last year, 12 million tons of Russian oil was transported through Druzhba through Ukraine, including 3.4 million tons to the Czech Republic, 5.2 million tons to Slovakia, and 3.4 million tons to Hungary.

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