A memorandum of understanding between the Ukrainian and Bulgarian energy ministries on cooperation in the energy sector was signed in the presence of Zelensky and Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolo Denkov during an official visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Bulgaria.
According to the press service of the Ukrainian head of state, the document was signed by Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko and Bulgarian Energy Minister Rumen Radev.
“The memorandum is aimed at creating framework conditions for deepening cooperation in the energy sector of Ukraine and Bulgaria based on the principle of mutual benefit and taking into account common interests and goals of both countries,” the statement said.
Ukraine and Bulgaria undertook to provide affordable energy, as well as to support industrial and regional development, security and prosperity of their peoples, expand cooperation and a shared commitment to protect the environment and mitigate climate change and reduce carbon emissions.
It was noted that taking into account Ukraine’s status as a candidate for EU membership and Bulgaria’s obligations as a EU member state, the sides agreed to intensify further mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, green energy, hydrogen, as well as energy storage systems and smart grids.
Sharing knowledge and experience to protect energy infrastructure from physical, electromagnetic, and cyber threats is a priority in the cooperation.
As reported, Bulgarian parliamentarians by a majority vote delegated the country’s Energy Minister to negotiate with his Ukrainian counterpart on the possibility of selling equipment intended for Belene NPP to Kiev, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported Thursday.
The decision was supported by 135 deputies, while 57 opposed.
Earlier, BNR reported that Ukraine had expressed interest in purchasing the reactors intended for Belene NPP.
Bulgaria abandoned the project in 2012.
The All-Ukrainian Agricultural Rada (AAR) and the Association of Milk Producers (AMP) will hold a mirror strike in response to the protest started by Polish farmers against the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through Poland and will not allow Polish trucks into Ukraine.
“In protest against the actions of Polish agricultural producers who began a strike and blocked the border crossing point (BCP) “Dorohusk – Yagodin” for cargo with Ukrainian grain, domestic agricultural producers decided to act in the mirror,” – noted in a press release of the WAR.
It is emphasized that Ukrainian agrarians have taken a strong stance to protect their interests and the domestic agricultural sector. During the strike, they will block the movement of Polish trucks through four international checkpoints, viz: The checkpoint “Dorogusk – Jagodin” on the Ukrainian side, in the municipality of Krakivets near the checkpoint “Krakivets-Korcheva”, in the village of Rata near the checkpoint “Rawa-Russkaya” and in the village of Shehini near the checkpoint “Shehini-Medika”.
The action will begin on June 10 at 10:00 and will last until 00:00, June 14.
As reported, for several days, Polish farmers have been blocking the PP “Dorohusk – Jagodyn” in protest against the influx of Ukrainian grain to the Polish market.
Only vehicles carrying humanitarian aid are allowed to pass. As part of the protest, two trucks with humanitarian aid will pass from Poland to Ukraine per hour, and none from Ukraine to Poland.
According to data for Friday morning, about 320 heavy trucks stood in a nine-hour queue to leave Poland for Ukraine at the Dorohusk border crossing point. According to the Ukrainian side, there were 3,185 trucks registered in the electronic queue to enter Poland.
The Polish protest is expected to last until midnight on Monday.
The volume of financing actually allocated to Ukraine by international partners in January-May 2023 to cover the deficit was $17.97 billion, compared to $32.14 billion in the previous year, the Ministry of Finance has reported.
According to the data published on its website, the grants accounted for $6.16 billion or 31.1%, including $6 billion provided by the United States, $52 million by Germany, $50 million by Spain and $21 million each by Finland and Ireland.
The biggest creditor of Ukraine this year is the EU – $8.12 billion, which has already exceeded the figure of the whole of last year, which amounted to $7.96 billion.
The IMF is the third largest lender this year with $2.706 billion compared with $2.693 billion last year.
They are followed by Canada with $1.76 billion, as well as the World Bank and the UK with $0.55 billion and $0.50 billion, respectively.
The Ministry of Finance specifies that the internal financing of the state budget through placement of government bonds amounted to $6.74 billion during this period.
As earlier reported, in 2023, Ukraine expects to receive about $42-42.5 bln in external financing of the state budget.
On May 12, the State Aviation Enterprise (SAE) “Ukraine” again announced a tender for services of compulsory civil aviation insurance: compulsory liability insurance of commercial aviation civil aircraft operator for damage caused to third parties and air carrier liability for damage caused to passengers and baggage; compulsory civil aircraft insurance; compulsory insurance of aircrew members and other aviation personal
According to a message in the electronic procurement system Prozorro, the expected value of the purchase of insurance services is UAH 23.392 million.
The tender bid is secured by an electronic bank guarantee of UAH 233.9 thousand.
The deadline for bids is May 20.
As reported, a similar tender with the same budget was announced on April 28, after a tender with a budget of UAH 17.1 million, announced on March 9, failed due to lack of proposals.
The State Aviation Enterprise “Ukraine” was established to organize, provide and perform air transportation, special flights of the highest official delegations of Ukraine and other states in the country and abroad in compliance with the requirements and rules, which are stipulated in the relevant regulatory documents.
BUDGET, INSURANCE, State Aviation Enterprise, TENDER, UKRAINE
Brazil has approved the candidacy of Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk for the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine.
“The Brazilian government is pleased to announce that it has granted Mr. Andriy Melnyk an aggregate nomination for the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Brazil,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Earlier on May 10, Melnyk had a meeting in Kiev with Celso Amorim, chief advisor of the Special Consultative Service of the Brazilian Presidential Administration.
As reported, on July 11, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Andriy Melnyk from the post of Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany. Melnyk had been Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany since 2014.
A new video on YouTube channel of the analytical center “Club of Experts” examined the options for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey. Ukrainian experts expressed their opinions and gave forecasts regarding the political situation in this country.
Mohammad Farajallah, editor-in-chief of the Internet publication “Ukraine in Arabic,” stressed that the upcoming elections in Turkey are of great importance for the region and arouse the interest of the international community.
“Turkey is an important player on the world stage, and its domestic policy directly affects the situation in the region and beyond. Therefore, the results of the elections will be monitored with great attention,” he noted.
In turn, the founder of the Club of Experts, Maksim Urakin, Ph.D. in Economics, shared his vision of possible scenarios after the elections. He stressed that there are two main political forces fighting for leadership in Turkey: the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Kemal Kılıcdaroğlu, allied with five other opposition political forces.
“Two scenarios are possible. If the AKP wins, we can expect a continuation of the policies Erdoğan has pursued in recent years, with a focus on enhancing domestic stability and strengthening Turkey’s position in the international arena. On the other hand, if the CHP wins, we may see a more pro-Western orientation and increased cooperation with the European Union and the United States,” the expert said.
According to Urakin, a win for either candidate in the first round is unlikely, and the winner of the presidential race will most likely be determined by a second ballot.
Both experts also noted the significance for Ukraine of the election results in Turkey.
“Ukraine has close economic and political ties with Turkey, so the election results will have a direct impact on our relations and cooperation. Over the last year, as a result of the war, trade turnover between our countries has decreased, but I believe that if the current political course is maintained, we can expect further development of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Turkey,” said Maxim Urakin.
In addition, the expert cited statistics on exports from Ukraine to Turkey in 2022, according to which it has decreased significantly.
“Last year, the volume of Ukrainian exports to Turkey was about 3 billion dollars as opposed to more than 4 billion in 2021, that is, we see a drop of 29%,” Urakin said.
According to Mohammad Farajallah, in the current geopolitical situation Turkey is an important partner of Ukraine in various spheres, which include both military support (UAV Bayraktar, light armored vehicles) and cooperation in economy, energy and other spheres.
The expert also suggested that if the opposition wins, Turkey is more likely to join sanctions against Russia.
“Naturally, the new government will be as close to the West as possible and can be included in a common unified Western policy against Russia. This, of course, will be to our advantage. But these are just preliminary words for now, perhaps they (the opposition – ed.) will come, look at the numbers and continue Erdogan’s current policy,” said Farajallah.
It should be noted that on the eve of the voting, Erdoğan lags behind his main rival Kılıçdaroğlu by more than 5%, according to a poll published by the Turkish sociological center KONDA on May 11.
Thus, Erdoğan gets the support of 43.7 percent of respondents, while Kılıçdaroğlu gets 49.3 percent.
The poll also reveals that neither candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, which means that if these data are confirmed in the elections, the winner will be chosen in the second round, which is scheduled for May 28.
The KONDA polling service conducted personal interviews with 3,480 people in 35 provincial centers.
At the same time, according to other surveys, in particular the Istanbul-based Center for Operational Social Research (Yöneylem), Erdoğan’s party was supported by 35.2% of voters in the parliamentary elections and Kılıcdaroğlu’s CHP by 30.7%.
For more on Turkey’s elections, see the video:
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CLUB_EXPERTS, ELECTIONS, ERDOĞAN, MOHAMMAD FARAJALLAH, TURKEY, UKRAINE, URAKIN
