Ukrainian refugees, almost a million of whom are currently living and working in Germany, are a great opportunity for German companies to both solve the labor shortage and create a foundation for future closer cooperation with Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the opening of the 6th Ukrainian-German Business Forum in Berlin on Tuesday.
“Take advantage of this huge potential. Integrate Ukrainians who are here with us into your companies. Even if these women and men return to Ukraine after the war, they will become a valuable asset for their companies. Because then they form “human bridges” with a country that, as a candidate for EU membership, has enormous economic potential,” the Chancellor emphasized.
According to him, many of the Ukrainian refugees in these weeks and months are completing integration courses, many now speak German, and almost all of them are well educated.
“This is a guarantee that the economic relations between Germany and Ukraine will develop even better and more dynamically in the future,” Scholz said of the integration of Ukrainians into German companies.
He noted that Ukraine is a country with millions of hardworking, well-educated citizens. “A country with which we are more closely connected than ever before, thanks to the Ukrainians who now live here with us,” the German Chancellor emphasized.
According to the organizers of the forum, including the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), the Eastern Committee of the German Economy (OA) and the German-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Ukraine), the event brought together more than 500 participants who wanted to learn about Ukraine’s economic development during the war, as well as about available opportunities for cooperation and investment. This year’s conference is titled “Ukraine’s economy is growing again despite the war / Demand from German companies”. Three panel discussions will focus on infrastructure, energy, and defense.
“Regardless of the war, a dozen investment projects have already been launched, and German companies are currently applying for investment guarantees from the federal government for another 30 projects. Reconstruction has begun, and German companies have joined it,” emphasized Christian Bruch, Deputy Chairman of the OA.
According to him, the risk of war can be controlled, especially in the western and central parts of the country, but more attractive offers of public and private financing, as well as insurance solutions, are needed.
Rainer Perau, Managing Director of AHK Ukraine, also believes that the security situation allows business travel to resume in most regions to start doing business.
It is noted that in the first eight months of 2023, German-Ukrainian trade increased by about 30% to EUR 6.2 billion: imports to Germany decreased slightly again – by 5.5% to EUR 1.8 billion, while exports increased by 52% to EUR 4.4 billion.
As reported with reference to Eurostat, as of August 31, 2023, 4 million 155.6 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, 98% of whom were Ukrainian citizens, had temporary protection status in the EU.
According to Eurostat, as of the end of August, the main EU countries that received temporary protection recipients from Ukraine were Germany (1 million 175.70 thousand people; 28.3% of the total), Poland (960.55 thousand people; 23.1%) and the Czech Republic (365.09 thousand people; 8.8%). The total share of these three countries is 60.2%. At the same time, over the past five months, the number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine in Germany increased by 108 thousand people, in the Czech Republic – by 39.8 thousand, while in Poland it decreased by 39.2 thousand.
Moldova’s National Commission for Emergency Situations has simplified the rules of entry into the country for Ukrainians, the Moldovan newspaper Newsmaker has reported.
It is said that the simplification will affect the entry procedure for the Ukrainians, who will now be able to enter Moldova through the Moldovan-Romanian border and Chisinau airport on the basis of ID-card, internal passport and other identity documents.
The decision of the National Commission comes in addition to the February 24 decision on the entry procedure for Ukrainian citizens, which allowed Ukrainians entering Moldova from Ukraine to enter the country under a simplified procedure.
It is specified that Ukrainians will also be able to leave Moldova for Ukraine based on the same documents.
Citizens of Ukraine who arrived in Azerbaijan will be able to stay in the country indefinitely, said Rufat Ibrahimov, chief of the Migration Control Department of the State Migration Service of Azerbaijan, apa.az reported.
“Period of stay is again 90 days. However, given the situation, expulsion does not apply after the period expiration. That is, citizens of Ukraine after 90 days can stay in our country,” Ibrahimov was quoted as saying by apa.az.
The consumer sentiment index (CSI) of Ukrainians improved by 1.1 points in July to 73.2 points on a 200-point scale, according to a study by the Info Sapiens agency.
“The main indices stabilized in July and statistically changed little compared to June 2022. The current position index has significantly slowed down the rate of decline, and the economic expectations index even showed an upward trend. At the same time, unemployment, inflation and devaluation expectations are worsening,” commented agency situation.
According to the study, the current position index fell by 1.1 points to 37.2 points. In particular, the current personal financial situation index dipped by 2.9 points last month to increased by 0.8 p. – up to 43.8 p.
In addition, the index of economic expectations (EI) in July increased by 2.5 points – up to 97.2 points. In particular, the index of the expected development of the country’s economy in the coming year increased by 2.2 points – up to as for the next five years decreased by 2.5 percentage points – to 133.9 percentage points.
Reportedly, the index of expected changes in personal financial situation increased by 7.7 points to 78.8 points.
The Info Sapiens report also indicates that the July index of the expected unemployment dynamics in Ukraine increased (worse – IF-U) by 3.7 points, to 146.4 points, and the inflation expectations index – by 0.6 points. , up to 183 p.
At the same time, Ukrainians’ expectations regarding the hryvnia exchange rate worsened in the next three months: the index of devaluation expectations rose by 5.4 percentage points to 157.5 percentage points.
The study of consumer sentiment is carried out by interviewing 1,000 people aged 16 and over on a representative sample of gender, age, and size of the settlement. The statistical deviation does not exceed 3.1%. The study has been conducted since June 2000: earlier it was conducted by GfK Ukraine, and since 2019 by Info Sapiens.
38% of Ukrainians declare their negative attitude towards LGBT people, relatively indifferent attitude prevails (45%), 13% declared a positive attitude, according to the results of the study “Perception of LGBT people and their rights in Ukraine”, conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) May 13-18, 2022.
If among people aged 70+ only 30% have a positive or indifferent attitude towards LGBT people, then among 18-29-year-olds there are already 83%. Among respondents with higher education, 66% have a positive or indifferent attitude towards LGBT people, and only 49% among respondents with complete secondary education or lower. In terms of income, the proportion of those who have a positive/indifferent attitude is growing from 47% among the poorest respondents to 66.5% among the richest.
At the same time, there is no significant regional difference: in the west of Ukraine, 56% have an indifferent or positive attitude, in the center – 60%, in the south – 57%, in the east – 56%.
Only 11% expressed a negative attitude towards the participation of LGBT people in the defense of Ukraine from Russian aggression, 66% of respondents expressed their approval.
64% of respondents are of the opinion that LGBT residents of Ukraine should have the same rights as other citizens of the country. Only 26% are in favor of some restrictions.
Among those who have a positive or indifferent attitude towards LGBT people, the vast majority (87.5% and 78% respectively) believe that they should have the same rights. Even among those who generally have a negative attitude towards LGBT people, 42% are in favor of equality (48% are for restrictions). Younger, more educated and more affluent respondents, as well as residents of large cities, are more supportive of equality.
“The inconsistency of respondents on LGBT rights is manifested in the issue of registered partnerships for same-sex couples without the right to joint adoption. Even for this format, support is 24%, while 42% do not support such an initiative. At the same time, for another 27% this issue indifferent… Among those who have a positive attitude towards LGBT people, 58% support the idea of a registered partnership, 20% do not support it… Among those who have a negative attitude, the majority (71.5%) are against such an idea, although 10% support it,” the KIIS press release says.
During the study, 2,000 respondents were interviewed by computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) in all regions of Ukraine controlled by the government until February 24, 2022. The statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) does not exceed 2.4% for indicators close to 50% and 1.1% for indicators close to 5%, but under conditions war, an additional systematic deviation is added, which does not prevent the results obtained from maintaining a high representativeness.
Ukraine is in the process of finding a state that could provide consular services to Ukrainian citizens forcibly deported to the Russian Federation, said the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova.
“We need a foreign state that will provide consular services to our citizens. We are working on this,” the ombudsman told Interfax-Ukraine at the Russia War Crimes House exhibition in Davos during the World Economic Forum.
According to her, in particular, Ukraine has appealed to Switzerland on this issue, but due to a number of circumstances it cannot fulfill this function.
Denisova also said that Russia’s stated data on the export of 1.347 million citizens of Ukraine, including more than 240 thousand. children, grow every day and were not fake.
The ombudsman stressed that she had reliable information that Russia was preparing for such an operation in advance.
“I have already received confirmations and evidence – materials from the Russian Federation – and there is clearly defined with signs the readiness of temporary accommodation of Ukrainians on February 21. That is, they sent directives from top to bottom… That is, they prepared in advance, I think they began to prepare in 2021, “said Denisova.
She clarified that these directives went from the Ministry of Emergencies, then to the federal districts, from there to the regions, and then to the cities.
“Then I have information that they collected at 4 am on April 29 how much was filled and how much was still free: 1200 or so was on April 29 and 33% was free. I think they will get up to 2 million,” said the ombudsman. .
According to her, it is a question of sending even to the territories furthest from Ukraine, for example, to the Yamal-Nenets district.
Denisova said that the Ukrainian side is cooperating with Russian citizens – volunteer organizations that raise funds to help deported Ukrainian citizens, because many of them do not have documents, things, “and no one talks about money at all.”
According to her, there used to be contacts with the Russian ombudswoman, but she believes that “you are all lying”, so now these contacts do not work.
The Commissioner of the Rada noted that attempts are being made at various levels, including the private one, to deport Ukrainian citizens from the Russian Federation.
“We are provided with lists of citizens who want to leave. We check Ukrainian citizenship and send it to the consulate in Narva. Volunteers buy tickets, they (Ukrainian citizens) come to Narva and cross it (border), and meet them in Estonia,” she said. the state of affairs of Denisov.
At the same time, she stressed that it is impossible to evacuate a significant number of people in this way, so it is literally hundreds.
In this regard, the Ombudsman recalled the clear resolution of the UN Human Rights Council of May 12, which calls for the forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens to Russia and the requirement to allow international human rights organizations, as well as provide an opportunity to return to Ukraine. Denisova added that a similar resolution was recently adopted by the European Parliament.
