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14 September 1998
For immediate release
[Press Releases Home]
Danish Foreign Minister's Two-Day Official Visit To Ukraine Opens $100M Credit Line
As part of Mr. Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen's two-day official visit to Ukraine, the Ukrainian National Agency for Development and European Integration and Denmark's Foreign Ministry signed a financial cooperation agreement on September 9, under which an intergovernmental credit line will be opened for Ukraine. In accordance with the document, Denmark will open a credit line to Ukraine to the tune of $ 100 million with the money earmarked for application of resource-saving technologies and technically upgrading Ukraine's shipbuilding and agriculture. Trade between the two countries totaled about $ 181 million in 1997 compared to $ 86 million in 1994.
On the same day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk held talks with his Danish counterpart, who later also met with President Leonid Kuchma, Premier Minister Valeriy Pustovoitenko and Minister for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Serhiy Osyka. A group of fourteen Danish business executives, accompanying Mr. Helveg Petersen, held talks in two specialized groups at the Ministry of Agro-Industrial Complex, and the Ministry of Power Industry.
On September 10, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Niels Helveg Petersen met with Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister for Power Industry Oleksiy Sheberstov and Agribusiness Minister Borys Supikhanov. The Danish Foreign Minister visited the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Monastery of the Caves before leaving for Copenhagen on Thursday afternoon.
Danish Foreign Minister Pledges Support For Ukraine's Bid For Membership Of WTO
Visiting Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen pledged his country's support for Ukraine's bid for membership of the World Trade Organization during a meeting with Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Serhiy Osyka. Ukraine and Denmark have a great opportunity to develop mutually advantageous cooperation, particularly in the spheres of technology, know-how, energy, and food processing, Mr. Helveg Petersen said. He also expressed his country's interest in broadening trade relations with Ukraine. Mr. Osyka blamed the trade misbalance on the fact that Ukraine only changed to international trading standards in 1994. According to him, the signing of the Ukrainian-European Union Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was a huge step on the way to boosting foreign trade. He added that Ukraine's present strategy is to orient its goods to the European market, including the European Union market. In this context, Mr. Osyka stressed the importance of Danish assistance in reviewing the antidumping decisions earlier made in relation to Ukraine as well as Danish support for Ukraine's bid for membership of the World Trade Organization.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Statement On Romanian Ethnic Minority In Odessa Region
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Press Center issued a statement to refute allegation published by the Romanian press and aired by some Romanian officials with regard to Ukraine violating the Romanian-Ukrainian Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Cooperation. The Romanian side accuses Ukraine of banning the Romanian language from being taught in some schools in the Odessa Region meant for the local Romanian ethnic community. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's statement refutes these accusations as groundless and, in turn, accuses the Romanian side of discriminating against ethnic Ukrainians living in Romania. The statement urges to speedily form a mixed intergovernmental commission in line with an earlier agreement reached between the two parties, which will be in charge of solving ethnic minority problems in Ukraine and Romania. The statement expresses regret over Romania's political elite fanning public passions around unchecked media reports.
President Kuchma Appoints Ambassador To Vatican
On September 9, President Leonid Kuchma signed a decree appointing Nina Kovalska Ukraine's Concurrent Ambassador to the Vatican. Ms. Kovalska is also Ukraine's Ambassador to Switzerland.
Kharkiv's Gypsy Community Seeking Compensation For Holocaust
Over 100 members of the Kharkiv community gathered in the city's hippodrome on September 10, to demand compensation for Gypsy victims of Nazism during World War II and the Holocaust. Organizers of the demonstration said almost one million Gypsies fell victims of the Holocaust.
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