Address by the Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a Government session

I greet you, dear colleagues, dear Ukrainians.

We are starting a regular session of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Yesterday, together with part of the Government’s team, we continued our working trips to the regions. We visited Odesa region then. All acute issues are on the agenda: heating season, restoration of critical infrastructure, economy, harvest season, social programs to support citizens, including the displaced persons.

Another key topic for the region and the country is the ways to enhance the export capacity. After russia has blocked our seaports, logistics became a bottleneck, preventing the economy from recovering faster and businesses from being fully operational. Therefore, through all this time the activities are underway aimed to increase export corridors. This applies to the railway infrastructure, and the signing of a transport visa-free regime with the EU for road haulage, and work on conveyance along the Danube transport corridor and the unblocking of Ukrainian seaports.

Actually, yesterday we visited the ports of Izmail and Reni in Odesa region, which as of now have become export "gateways" for Ukraine to European countries. After the start of the war, cargo traffic through our ports on the Danube river have grown 2.5-5 times. Thanks to our Armed Forces, who had liberated Zmiiny (Snake) Island, we got additional opportunities for exporting and importing products in this area. The first stage of unblocking the Black Sea has been completed and, as a result, the volumes of export of agricultural products may increase by 20%, or by 500,000 tons.

Certainly, the current indicators of the exports in agricultural products are far from our pre-war volume, but the entire vertical of the Ukrainian state power are working with vigor to solve this problem.

The issue of unblocking seaports for our economy is a matter of billions of dollars. In June, all exports of Ukraine amounted to USD 3.2 billion. This is by 20% more than in March. But still almost twice less than the indicators before the war.

This export issue is especially relevant today, when the harvest is in full swing in Ukraine. Our farmers have already collected 6.5 million tons of new harvest. In total, the harvest of grain and oil crops is expected to be 65-70 million tons this year. Under good scenarios, this is about 70% of the 2020/21 figure.

The Government is now maximally involved in supporting the agricultural sector. More than UAH 40 billion in affordable loans have been issued. We also attract our international partners in such support. This week, the United States announced the creation of a USD 100 million agricultural sustainability initiative in Ukraine. USAID plans to attract another sum to the tune of USD 150 million for this program from other international donors and private businesses so that the total amount is 250 million dollars.

In addition, we have separate programs and agreements regarding the import of special equipment for temporary grain storage into Ukraine. Such special containers will allow additional storage of approximately 10-15 million tons of grain.

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A few more words about the Government's cooperation with the regions. Under martial law, budget funds are primarily directed to the security and defense sector. The second funding priority concerns social spending and critical infrastructure. Now, in the second tier of funding priorities, we also include local government expenditures related to preparation for the heating season, as well as repairs and improvements to civil defense facilities, especially in educational institutions. We discussed this issue during a teleconference with heads of State Administrations this Wednesday. We are to adopt the relevant decision today.

We prolong our work for the victory and restoration of our Ukraine.

Thank you for attention. We move on to the agenda of the meeting.