EU Exports +60%, Istanbul Canal & LNG
🔵 Ukraine’s exports of goods to the EU grew by 60% in the five years since Ukraine joined the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area pact with the EU, Prime Minister Shmygal writes on Facebook. This year, Ukraine’s exports to the EU may hit €20 billion. Last year, the EU received 41% of Ukraine’s exports of goods and services.
🔵 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched Saturday the construction of the Istanbul Canal, a $15 billion, 6-year project that is to replace the Bosporus. Designed to carry ships of the same size that transit the Suez Canal, the 45 km canal would open the Black Sea for the first time to liquefied natural gas cargoes from Persian Gulf. Turkish officials have said the future canal will not be subject to the 1936 Montreux Convention, which limits the number and tonnage of warships entering the Black Sea through the Bosporus.
🔵 Turkey and Ukraine agreed Thursday to cooperate on building LNG terminals in the Black Sea, reports Yaroslav Demchenkov, Ukraine’s deputy minister of Energy for European Integration. Turkey is developing massive new gas discoveries on its western Black Sea coast, but there are no Turkey-Ukraine pipelines across the Black Sea. Demchenkov said: “Cooperation with the Republic of Turkey in terms of LNG supplies is a priority for us.”
🔵 US and Germany are working to draw up a deal to shore up Ukraine’s energy sector to blunt the impact of Nord Stream 2, Bloomberg reports from Berlin and Washington. Elements could include: building up a hydrogen production industry in Ukraine; requiring Russia to keep minimum gas flows across Ukraine through the 2020s; and Germany supporting the “Three Seas Initiative” to build up central European pipelines connecting LNG terminals in Poland and Croatias. The package would be largely finalized in time for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Washington on July 15 and President Zelenskiy’s visit several days later
🔵 Looking ahead, the government is working on accomplishing five ‘visa-free’ relationships with the EU, by the end of President Zelenskiy’s term, in 2024. Shmygal writes. For industry, the goal is to align Ukrainian standards with EU ones, allowing managers to get EU certificates in Ukraine. For aviation, the goal is to sign the long-delayed open skies agreement with the EU. For energy, the goal is to separate from the electricity systems of Russia and Belarus and to join Europe’s transmission system — ENTSO-E. For customs, the government expects to join next year the EU convention on joint transit and data sharing. In the digital realm, Ukraine is joining the EU market.
