Ukraine Digest. Issue 21 (September 20, 2013)

7/27/2019 Ukraine Digest. Issue 21 (September 20, 2013)

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Ukrainian Embassyhosted national dayreception in London

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Shell sees no risks toinvesting in Ukraine

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Te Days of Ukrainein London to presentUkrainian culture

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also in this issue:

Closer European integration opens up a vastarray of new opportunities for Ukraine and itspeople. At the heart of those opportunities isan exciting agenda to transform Ukraine, itseconomy and institutions to build a modern

and prosperous European state. Ukraine hasa great opportunity to be a partner of in-

creasing infuence and value... That willbe good for Europe and Britain. Most im-

portantly, it will be good for Ukraine.


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Page 2Ukraine Digest, Friday, September 20, 2013

www.ukremb.org.uk

european integration

European UnionA m b a s s a d o rJan ombin-ski believes that

Ukraine is especially sig-nicant or the EU and thatby signing the AssociationAgreement (AA) Ukrainewill have a chance to avoid

the path o economic stag-nation and political autoc-racy. Tis was stated in hisStronger together article.He also noted that Ukraine

should not remain in thegrey zone o danger betweenEurope and Russia.

Ukraine is an impor-tant economic partner, asource o energy security, aswell as a bridge to Russia,

stressed the EUAmbassador toUkraine reer-ring to the actthat Ukraineprovides mosto the Russian oil and gastransit to Europe.

Te benets or Ukrainebeing closer to Europe, ac-cording to Jan ombinski,include access to the Eu-

ropean market, ree move-ment o people and capital,the positive eects o com-petition, as well as the in-creased productivity, wages,

economic growth and newemployment opportunities.

Te European Union -is much more than just aneconomic community. It isa union o shared values ,and these values underpin

long-term relationships thatthe EU is seeking to estab-lish with Ukraine. Nobodysaid it would be easy. How-ever, this will surely be inthe interests o both parties,

Ukraine and the EuropeanUnion. We are neighbors,and Im sure that at theend o this path we will bestronger together, conclud-

ed Ambassador ombinski.Jan ombinski says ap-

proval o dra AssociationAgreement is an importantstep by Ukraines govern-ment. According to him,there are no grounds to

disrupt the signingo the AssociationAgreement betweenUkraine and theEU, especially aerthe Ukrainian gov-

ernment approved a dra othis document on Septem-ber 18. I see no groundsto disrupt the signing o theAssociation Agreement withthe European Union, espe-

cially aer todays decisionby Ukraine [the approval othe dra Association Agree-ment by the government],ombinski said.

Jan Tombinski:

Ukraine is an important

economic partner,

a source of energy

security, as well as abridge to Russia

European Union andUkraine need each other

Ukraine hasbeen movingtowards Euro-pean integra-

tion or years and now, ithas achieved criteria neces-sary or signing the Asso-ciation Agreement.

Ukrainian President Vik-tor Yanukovych said this onSeptember 13, the presiden-tial press service reported.

We have concluded withour European partners thatUkraine has achieved cri-teria necessary or signingthe Association Agreementin Vilnius, in November2013, the Head o Statenoted in the course o theceremony o receiving cre-dentials rom the Ambas-

sadors Extraordinary andPlenipotentiary o oreigncountries.

Te President stressedthat reormation and mod-ernization o dierentspheres o lie had becomea major contribution to thegiven process.

According to ViktorYanukovych, these trans-ormations will not only

positively infuence thedevelopment o our state,but also will be useul orthe countries-partners oUkraine.

Te President also em-phasized: It is necessary tobe guided by the principleso mutual respect in build-ing o bilateral relations.

Te best language is thelanguage o good trade-eco-nomic, humanitarian and

cultural relations betweenour peoples. I will alwaysacilitate such processes.

Ukraines President Viktor Yanukovych

Ukraine has achieved criteria necessaryfor signing the Association Agreement

There are no grounds to disruptthe signing of the AssociationAgreement between Ukraine and theEuropean Union
http://www.ukremb.org.uk/http://www.ukremb.org.uk/


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www.ukremb.org.uk

Ukraines PrimeMinister MykolaAzarov hopesor strengthen-

ing bilateral relations betweenUkraine and the United King-dom thanks to the collabora-tion with Shell on the devel-opment o the Black Sea shel.

Te head o government

said this at a meeting with UKMinister or Europe DavidLidington in Kyiv on uesday,September 17.

raditionally, the UnitedKingdom is our good tradingpartner. We hope that our co-operation, or example, withsuch company as Shell, in thedevelopment o the Black Seashel, will urther strengthenthis cooperation, Azarovnoted.

He added that Ukraine isalso interested in developingcooperation with the UnitedKingdom in the humanitar-ian and cultural areas.

He expressed hope that thevisit o the UK minister willpromote the development obilateral relations betweenUkraine and the United King-dom, and the development orelations between Ukraine

and the EU.Azarov also extended aninvitation to the UK PrimeMinister to visit Ukraine athis convenience.

Ukrainehopes fordeepercooperationwith UK

uk-ukraine

Earlier this summer Croatia be-came the 28th Member State othe European Union. Other coun-tries that were once part o Yugo-

slavia are working hard to ollow in Croatiasootsteps. Ukraine along with most other East-ern Partnership countries is hopeul that the

Vilnius Summit in November will mark a newstage in its relationships with the EU. Mean-while, the Eurozone has returned to growth.So, aer sixty years o existence, the EU con-tinues to be a powerul vehicle or change, o-ering increased security and prosperity to the500 million citizens whose countries are al-ready Member States as well as those that wishto join our club.

...And the European Union must keep itsdoors open to new members. Since the col-lapse o the Soviet Union, Britain has champi-

oned the entry into the EU o those countriesthat lost so many years to Communism. Wehope that one day Ukraine will also become aMember State i that is what its people want.We thereore look at the Association Agree-ment, which will be signed in Vilnius i theUkrainian government demonstrates deter-mined action and tangible progress in ad-dressing the reorm agenda that it has agreedwith the EU, as the rst step which could intime lead to ull membership or Ukraine.

Te British government has yet to take a de-cision on whether we will sign the Association

Agreement in November. Our decision will bebased on an objective assessment o whetherthe changes introduced provide sufcient evi-dence o a genuine commitment to reorm.We very much hope that we will be able tolaunch a new phase o EU-Ukraine partner-ship at Vilnius. But we need to be convincedthat it is really going to work. So I would urgethe Ukrainian government to use the ew re-maining weeks beore the Vilnius Summitto redouble their eorts to address concernsabout selective justice, the rule o law, the busi-

ness climate and electoral reorm.I know there are some in Ukraine who ar-gue the EU is seeking to impose alien valuesand excessively demanding standards ontoUkraine. I disagree. Te reorms that will ow

rom Association Agreement will be goodor Ukraine. Consider how they have workedelsewhere. Te rules-based economy that Eu-ropean integration has brought has helped totransorm Ukraines neighbours, such as Po-land and Slovakia, into dynamic and increas-ingly prosperous modern economies. In Po-

land, GDP per capita has grown rom $2406in 1991 to $13463 in 2011 and lie expectancyhas increased rom 71 to 76 today. Such guresspeak or themselves.

Some pessimists question whether Ukrainehas what it takes to ollow suit. No-one canguess the uture. But I am convinced that iUkraine embraces the sorts o reorms thatits EU neighbours have introduced tack-ling corruption, cutting red tape, unleashingthe potential o its young people and reeingthe hands o entrepreneurs and SMEs the

uture looks bright. One recent Ukrainian-German study suggested that living standardsin Ukraine could increase by more than 11%in the long term as a result o closer Europeanintegration. Why? Because Ukrainian compa-nies will be able to trade with their EU coun-terparts on an equal ooting, learning to com-pete and break into new markets as thousandso Polish, Czech, Slovak and other rms havedone. And more oreign direct investmentshould ow into the Ukrainian economy,bringing new jobs, modern technology andbetter management.

Closer European integration is not, ocourse, just about the economy. Ukraine willalso benet rom the EUs experience in areassuch as improving water and air quality, roadsaety and phyto-sanitary standards. Ukrainesmembership o the Single European Educa-tional Space will create new opportunities orgreater cooperation between Ukrainian andEuropean universities. And the EuropeanUnion will not be an idle bystander. Supportand assistance will continue, building on the3.1 billion that the EU has already invested

in Ukraine. When we work in partnership, weare Stronger ogether.

Minister for Europe David Lidington on issues and opportunitiesin EU-Ukraine relations

For the full version of the article,please, click here
http://www.ukremb.org.uk/http://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/ukraine-and-the-eu-stronger-togetherhttp://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/ukraine-and-the-eu-stronger-togetherhttp://www.ukremb.org.uk/


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www.ukremb.org.uk

A

mbassador o Ukraineto the UK Volody-myr Khandogiy held ameeting with the Vice

President or International Govern-ment Relations o Royal Dutch ShellInternational B.V. Sean Rooney onSeptember 11.

Te main topic o the meeting wasthe prospects or shale gas produc-tion in Ukraine. During the talks theparties paid special attention to thecurrent issues o the Shell unction-ing in Ukraine, including the imple-

mentation o the production sharingagreement, signed between Shell andNadra Yuzivska LLC on January 24,2013.

Sean Rooney welcomed the meas-ures introduced by the Governmento Ukraine, in particular, to increaseenergy resources domestic produc-tion in order to support national andeuropean energy security.

At the meeting special attention was

paid to the signing o the EU-Ukraine

Association Agreement in Novem-ber. Te later ensures the creation oa deep and comprehensive ree tradearea between EU and Ukraine. In thiscontext, the question on the prospectso increase o investments in Ukrainesgas production by Shell was discussed.

Earlier, Sean Rooney said, Shellsees no risks or the unds investedin Ukrainian projects to develop gaselds.

We are comortable working inUkraine. We see that the governmentin Ukraine respects the investmentswhich we invest. In addition, ear-ing or our own investments, we seekstability. Te Ukrainian governmentworks well with us in this direction,and so ar I do not see any risks, SeanRooney said at the V InternationalEconomic Forum Investments. In-novations. Kharkiv Initiatives onSeptember 6 in Kharkiv.

According to Rooney, the com-pany is more concerned at whether

gas deposits will be discovered at theYuzivska eld.

Te main danger regarding thehydrocarbon exploration is geology:that is, will we nd gas or not, will itbe eectively rom the point o viewo the economy to produce this gas,he added.

A reminder that Shell is engaged inthe exploration o gas elds in Kharkivregion.

Shell sees no risks to investing in Ukraine

C

o o p e r a t i o n

with RoyalDutch Shellover time

will signicantly increaseown production o hydro-

carbons that together with

other measures is to ensureenergy independence oUkraine, Prime MinisterMykola Azarov told report-ers in Te Hague on Sep-

tember 12 as part o his visitto the Netherlands, accord-ing to a Ukrinorm reporter.

O course, one shouldnot underestimate all those

difculties that exist in thedevelopment o shale de-posits. Hard work is ahead,but we and the companyRoyal Dutch Shell are con-dent that we are on the righttrack, and the agreement isin line with our national in-terests, and it will eventuallysolve the problem o pro-

viding Ukraine with owngas. Its very important, the

head o government empha-sized.Te prime minister re-

called that in 2015 RoyalDutch Shell will begin to

produce signicant volumeso gas in Ukraine.

As Ukrinorm report-ed, on September 12, theUkrainian government and

Royal Dutch Shell signed anagreement on operating ac-tivities regarding a produc-tion sharing agreement orhydrocarbons to be extract-ed on the Yuzivska area.

According to the instru-ment, at the rst stage Roy-al Dutch Shell will investaround $500 million in geo-logical exploration, whereasthe companys total invest-

ment in commercial devel-opment and constructiono communications on theYuzivska area is estimated at$10 billion.

Cooperating with Shell to ensureUkraines energy independence

energy


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www.ukremb.org.uk

In celebration o the 22nd Anniversary oUkraines Independence the Embassy oUkraine in Great Britain hosted a reception

Te representatives o the governmental,political and business circles, diplomatic corps andukrainian community gathered at the Embassy onSeptember 12, 2013 to congratulate Ukraine with

this date.Te guests enjoyed the exhibition o painting bythe well-known Ukrainian artist Olga Kovalenko.Te exhibition was held in cooperation with theANN Gallery rom Kyiv within the ramework othe international project - Ukrainian art and theworld.

Te Duo Karpaty music band contributed tocreating the estive atmosphere during the event.

The Ambassador of Ukraine and his wife NataliyaKhandogiy hosted national day reception

Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nicholas

Houghton GCB CBE ADC, Olga Kovalenko and Colonel

Pavlo Tertytskyi

embassy news

Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Aleinikand his wife enjoy the exhibition of the Ukrainian artist

Ambassador Volodymyr Khandogiy and Lord Risby,

Chairman of the British Ukrainian Society


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www.ukremb.org.uk

Ms Firtash, why did you choose tohold the Days o Ukraine in GreatBritain?

Weve been promoting Ukrainianculture and history in the United King-dom since 2008, when the Ukrain-ian Studies program at Universityo Cambridge was launched.Tis program has givenoreign students an op-portunity to learn, notonly the Ukrainianlanguage, but also thehistory and literature oUkraine, and to get to know

our traditions. Still, we wantedUkraine to be discovered by a widerpublic, not just students.

We saw that British-Ukrainian cultur-al ties were not really moving as quicklyas people in both countries would like tosee. Im convinced that this new projectwill go a long way to resolving this and tobringing about deeper interaction evenin other areas o international relations.

How did you come up with the ideao having the Days o Ukraine in the

UK?

Our Foundation has been working inGreat Britain at a number o levels orsome time now. By setting up a scholar-ship program, the Firtash Foundation hasmade it possible or dozens o talentedUkrainians to get a degree at Cambridge.According to the QS World UniversityRanking, Cambridge University is recog-nized as N1 in the world. It has produced88 Nobel Prizewinners and over its 800-

year history, it has turned into not onlyone o the best universities in the world,but also one o the best known brands inthe world. Tese 800 years give it a claimon eternity, I believe. I take my hat o to the

group oscholar swho oundeda new univer-sity at Cambridgein 1209! And it wasDmytro Firtashwho opened

the doors tocenturies-oldCambridge orUkraine.

Unortunately, rightnow, its air to say thatpeople in Europe are not es-pecially amiliar with Ukraine.Tis means we have to work onUkraines renown in the world by or-ganizing social and cultural events. Tisparticular idea did not come immedi-

ately, but gradually we began to under-stand that a project o this kind wouldbe a good launch to systematic work onraising Ukraines prole abroad. Vital assuch social initiatives are, however, we

can only do

something onthis scale with the

support o philan-thropists.Tat is why I, as the di-

rector o the Firtash Founda-tion, and my husband, Dmytro

Firtash, decided to take on thischallenge and show the world a di-

erent Ukraine; a young, contemporarycountry that is only 22 years old but isnevertheless a unique, original, highly

cultured and highly spiritual Europeannation.When we talk about this new series o

projects, we understand that this is thetransition to the next level o rapproche-

We want Britons

to discover anew Ukraine

The FIRTASH FOUNDATION hasannounced an unprecedentedcampaign: The Days of Ukraine inthe UK, a festival that will run on

October 17-19, 2013.Lada Firtash, the Foundationsdirector and OrganizingCommittee Chair, told whythe UK was chosen as the

place for the rst suchFestival, how theorganizers envision

this event, and whatthey expect.

culture


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ment between the cultures o Ukraineand Great Britain.

Why specically a cultural

project?

Yet Im convinced thatcultural relations canimprove cooperation

between countries,bring people to-gether and help usbecome a strategicpartner to someo the most devel-oped countries in

the world.Tis premier o anew series o project

is also an extension othe cultural and educa-

tional program that welaunched in Great Britain

several years ago. We decidedon a very ambitious goal: to open

Ukraine to Europeans as a spiritedland with many cultural achievementsand immense creative and intellectualpotential. I you look at the projects

logo, a key, it is intended as a symbol. Ibelieve that Te Days o Ukraine in theUnited Kingdom estival will really be akey to understanding our country, a keythat will help all who so desire to openUkraine or themselves.

What ormat will this event ollowand how will it represent Ukraine?

For three days, London will experi-ence a series o brilliant estivals, ash-

ion shows, literary readings, a country

air, and an art exhibition o Ukrainianartists that will continue or another 10days.

Tis will be a classic cultural estival,

complete with a country air where visi-tors can try Ukrainian ood, watch arti-sans at their cra and buy their wares.On closing night, October 19, wevegot a gala concert with a line-up o topUkrainian perormers.

Tis year, we were assisted in ndingthe best curators or each o the estivalprograms by the Ministry o Culture oUkraine.

How do you expect this particular

event to make a diference?

Ukraine will be presenting its bestvoices and its most outstanding creativepersonalities. Tese are people who havebecome cultural brands. All o them to-gether will present the image o a greatcountry that is talented and multi-acet-ed.

We expect more than 100,000 visi-tors to attend these events. Our goal is tohook everyone who visits this estival,to engage them in a deeper cultural di-

alog, to generate interest among Britonsand a desire to learn more about Ukraine,so that it is no longer a blank spot on themap o Europe.

oday, I think there are ew peoplewho have any doubts that Ukraine sharesEuropean values, that it wants to estab-lish a successul state and to place demo-cratic principles at the oundation o thisstate. For us, Europe is the best model.We want Europeans to see Ukraine as amodern, cultured country that is devel-

oping as part o the civilized world.

On October 17-19, 2013, London willbe the venue or Te Days o Ukrainein the UK, a major cultural estival.Tis event will bring Ukraine, with

its rich history and culture, closer toBritain.

Ukraine will be represented byoutstanding creative personalities,reecting this talented, multi-acetedcountry. During the estival guests willenjoy the ashion show, which gath-ers well-known Ukrainian designers,exhibition o contemporary Ukrainianpainters as well as many other excitingevents.

During the estival Britons will

experience the colourul spirit that isUkraine.Te Days o Ukraine in the UK are

organised by Firtash Foundation, acharity, with the generous nancialsupport o Group DF, an internationalgroup o companies based in Ukraine.

Te honorary members o the or-ganizing committee o the estival are:

Dr. Simon Franklin, Proessor oSlavonic Studies, University o Cam-bridge;

Volodymyr Khandogiy, Ambassador

o Ukraine in the UK;Borys Krasnyansky, CEO o Group

DF;Lord Oxford, Member o Group DF

Supervisory Council;Lord Risby, Chairman o British

Ukrainian Society, andJohn Whittingdale, Member o the

UK Parliament.Lada Firtash, the Chairperson,

Founder o the Firtash Foundation,chairs the organizational committee.

Te Days ofUkraine in

Londonto presentUkrainianculture

culture

For more information, please, contact

Oksana Kyzyma,

Press Secretary of the Embassy of

Ukraine to the UK

Tel.: 020 7727 6312

E-mail: [email protected]

Address: 60 Holland Park,

London W11 3SJ

In the preparation of this issue materials ofUKRINFORM, FIRTASH Foundation, GOV.UKwere used

Issue #21, September 20, 2013
http://users/sasha/Library/Caches/Adobe%20InDesign/Version%207.0/en_GB/InDesign%20ClipboardScrap1.pdfhttp://www.ukrinform.ua/enghttp://en.firtashfoundation.com/http://gov.uk/http://gov.uk/http://en.firtashfoundation.com/http://www.ukrinform.ua/enghttp://users/sasha/Library/Caches/Adobe%20InDesign/Version%207.0/en_GB/InDesign%20ClipboardScrap1.pdf

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Ukraine Digest. Issue 21 (September 20, 2013)

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