also in this issue:
A year of Ukraine’s OSCE Chairmanship Page 3
S&P improves outlook on Ukraine’s ratings Page 4
Lviv is among top ten world cities worth visiting this year Page 5
editorial
Dear friends, We are delighted to present you the first issue of the Ukraine Digest in 2014. 2013 have witnessed many significant and interesting events in the Ukraine-UK bilateral cooperation. During the year our countries held an active dialogue in all dimensions from politics and economics to culture. The OSCE Chairman in Office, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara met UK Foreign Secretary William Hague in London, Minister for Europe David Lidington visited Kyiv twice. In 2013 Ukraine has achieved considerable progress on its European track. Our country will continue the work on this direction in the following year. We achieved significant growth of trade turnover between Ukraine and the United Kingdom – the last figures show that the total trade volume increased by 14%. For a few years in a raw UK ranks among the top 10 foreign investors in the Ukrainian economy. Last year a production-sharing agreement was signed with Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which envisages 15 billion investment in the energy sector. Hopefully, these trends will continue in 2014. This year was marked by commemoration of a milestone event of our common historical heritage – 160th Anniversary since the start of the Crimean War. On this occasion HRH Prince Michael of Kent headed British Air Squadron historic Aviation Club to Ukraine. Club’s vintage airplanes visited Kyiv, Lviv, Sebastopol, Kherson, Kirovograd and Vinnytsia to be showcased in the Ukrainian sky. Then British sculptor Martin Jennings visited Ukraine to explore historic places of Crimean War as part of his work on the monument to Mary Seacole, who nursed troops from both sides during the war. We held the Days of Ukraine in the UK in October to get the British audience acquainted with the character of our nation, our music, literature, fashion and contemporary art. At the same time ten children from London, Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead, Norfolk, Gloucester, Cambridge presented the British culture and traditions at the OSCE Youth Summit in Artek International Children Centre (Crimea, Ukraine). We developed closer ties between Ukraine and Northern Ireland as well as between Ukraine and Wales. The bicentenary of John Hughes, a Welsh founder of Ukrainian industrial powerhouse –city of Donetsk, was celebrated in London and Cardiff. All these topics were highlighted on the pages of the Ukraine Digest last year. We did our best to make you familiar with the processes taking place in bilateral relations between our two countries as well as in Ukraine itself. We remain keen to draw your attention to positive trends about Ukraine to help you better understand our country. We hope you will enjoy reading the Ukraine Digest in 2014! Ukraine Digest team
foreign policy
A year of Ukraine’s OSCE Chairmanship In 2013 Ukraine held the Presidency of the the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world’s largest regional organization. At the 20th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the OSCE in Kyiv on December 6, the Chairman in Office, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara analyzed the results of Ukraine’s Chairmanship. He noted the successful start of “Helsinki 40” process, which involves the OSCE upgrading and was initiated by the
Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Dublin in 2012. An important part of the Organization’s efforts was the process of protracted conflicts settlement. The Minister welcomed the new dynamics in the bilateral dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia at the highest level. The OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zaner noted that the meeting of the Council of Ministers in Kyiv contributed to the development of longterm agenda of the Organization.
Ukraine assumes CIS Presidency
On January 1, 2014 Ukraine assumed the Presidency of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The President Viktor Yanukovych informed that as part of its CIS Chairmanship Ukraine would focus on strengthening trade in goods and services, on removal of barriers in mutual trade and on development of an effective mechanism aimed to resolve
disputable issues. A priority would be given to preparations for signing of agreements on pipeline transit, trade in services, and a protocol on the gradual cancellation of export duties. Earlier, at a CIS summit in Minsk on October 25, 2013, Yanukovych announced the plans of the Ukrainian Presidency to hold an innovation forum of the CIS countries, an international conference of small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as a number of meetings on interstate cooperation. Ukraine’s President also offered to hold a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in Kyiv in October 2014, dedicating it to the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from Nazi occupation.
He added that the positive trends of Ukrainian chairmanship would be further developed in the upcoming chairmanship of Switzerland and Serbia in 2014 and 2015. According to international experts, during the presidency of Ukraine in the OSCE, significant progress has been made in strengthening the Organization’s mandate in the field of energy and environment. Steps in promoting energy efficiency of renewable energy sources were also noted.
Ukrainian warship joins counter-piracy operation Ukraine’s Navy frigate Hetman Sagaidachniy joined the European Union’s counter piracy Operation Atalanta. The warship will be part of the EU Naval Force off the coast of Somalia for two months. Hetman Sagaidachniy, a Krivak III class frigate commissioned in 1993, is currently the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy.
economy
S&P improves outlook on Ukraine’s ratings
In 2013, Ukraine exceeded the target on grain exports, having delivered 18.5 million tonnes of domestic grain to foreign markets, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Prysiazhniuk has said on January 3. “In 2013, we exceeded the planned volume of grain exports. It serves as an indicator of the efficient operation of the domestic grain logistics. Thus, before the New Year our farmers sent abroad 18.5 million tonnes of grain. That is 4 million tonnes more than over the same period last marketing year,” Prysiazhniuk noted.
Ukraine is planning to put the “Lybid” national communication satellite into operation next year. Head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine Yuriy Alekseyev said this on December 26. “We are going to launch a communication satellite on April 27, 2014,” Mr Alekseyev said. He recalled that the
“Our grain is highly competitive in the market today, as evidenced by the high demand for it. Therefore, we will continue to work on the opening of new markets. And Ukraine has already proven that it plays an important role in global food security. In 2014 we will work on enhancing these positions,” Prysiazhniuk said. Ukrainian grain is highly competitive in the market today, as evidenced by the high demand for it
satellite is to be launched by a Zenit3SLB carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Three months will be required to put the satellite into operation and after that Ukraine will use its communications satellite, he added. The satellite is currently being prepared for thermal tests. The Lybid satellite is the first Ukrainian geostationary telecommunications satellite. It is designed to provide services for regional and international broadcasting, direct broadcasting, multimedia services and the Internet.
Standard & Poor’s international rating agency has improved the outlook on Ukraine’s ratings from “negative” to “stable” and affirmed the country’s foreign and local currency long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings at “B-/B,” the agency said in a press release on December 26. “In our view, Ukrainian external and fiscal funding challenges have been significantly reduced by the announcement of a financial support package from Russia. We are therefore revising the outlook on our long-term sovereign credit ratings on Ukraine to stable from negative. We are affirming our ‘B-/B’ long and short-term sovereign ratings on Ukraine,” S&P said. The stable outlook means that the agency can improve the country’s credit ratings within a year.
Law on energy market liberalization comes into force The Law “On principles of the electricity market operation if Ukraine”, implying liberalization of the wholesale electricity market of the country, came into force on 1 January 2014. The Parliament adopted the law on liberalization of the energy market on 24 October 2013. Currently in Ukraine there is a single buyer energy market, while the new law provides for the implementation of a model of direct contracts, “day-ahead” market and the balancing market, which will provide an opportunity to adjust the imbalance that occurs in the production of electricity.
Ukraine Digest, Monday, January 13, 2014
Page 5
tourism
L
viv is among the top ten cities in the world worth visiting in 2014, according to the famous British publisher of travel and reference guides The Rough Guide. Lviv ranks the fifth place in the chart of world cities worth visiting this year. The Ukrainian city was in the list of famous tourist cities along with Liverpool, Marseille, Rio de Janeiro and Portland. Lviv is a small city with the global influence. During Euro 2012, football fans stayed in the UNESCOlisted city centre, with its vintage trams and
east–west fusion of architectural delights. The Rough Guide is one of the leading guides around the world, the first edition of which was published in 1982. The city of Lviv was founded in the middle of the thirteenth century by Prince Danylo Galytskyi, who named the city after his son Lev. The first recorded mentions of the city date back to 1256. Lviv witnessed about 30 wars, fires and attempts to destroy it. It is called the Pearl of the Western Ukraine, the City of Lion, and Ukrainian Paris. The historic center of Lviv is listed in the world and cultural heritage of UNESCO. Lviv is also a home to many world-class cultural institutions, including a philharmonic orchestra and the famous Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
The Market Square architectural ensemble consist of 44 stone buildings. Every house is unique: sculptures, spires, Gothic, Baroque, Romanticism - everything is here. 2 Lviv Opera was build in 1897-1900. The theatre’s building is one of the best in Europe, it equals the theatres in Odesa and Vienna. The facade is decorated with sculptures, the interior - with painting, mirrors and jewellery. 1
The Ukrainian city Lviv is in the list of famous tourist cities along with Liverpool, Marseille, Rio de Janeiro and Portland worth visiting this year
The lion was a traditional symbol of Lviv throughout the ages. It traditionally symbolises bravery, valour, strength, and royalty. For more information, please, contact Oksana Kyzyma, Press Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine to the UK
Tel.: 020 7727 6312 E-mail: press@ukremb.org.uk Address: 60 Holland Park, London W11 3SJ
Issue #28 (1), January 13, 2014 In the preparation of this issue materials of UKRINFORM were used