Dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainians!

We are starting a regular meeting of the Government.

Food security is one of the 10 points of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula.

In June, the participants of the International Peace Summit in Switzerland unanimously supported Ukraine’s position on food security.

This also applies to the protection of ports and free and safe navigation in the Black Sea.

Since the first day of its invasion, russia has done everything it could to block Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. In this way, the enemy put pressure on Ukraine’s economy and simultaneously put pressure on our allies, creating threats to global food security.

That is why one of the biggest victories for Ukraine last year was the opening of the Ukrainian Sea Corridor.

Exactly one year has passed, and today we can evaluate the extremely important results for our country. More than 2,300 vessels called at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports this year.

Cargo turnover was over 64 million tonnes.

Almost 44 million tonnes of grain were exported from Ukraine.

All of this had a positive impact on various sectors of our economy and on the economy as a whole.

Ukrainian exporters increased physical sales of their goods by 35% in the first half of 2024. We have reached pre-war export levels.

This result was made possible by three things.

The first and most important is the successful actions of our Security and Defence Forces in the Black Sea.

The second is a unique initiative to insure war risks for merchant ships, which we are implementing together with international insurance companies.

The third is the restoration of Ukraine’s port infrastructure and investments in its development.

I am grateful to the President of Ukraine and all those who secured this important victory for Ukraine.

I am grateful to our farmers who continue to sow and harvest crops in difficult conditions to feed Ukraine and the world.

These days we are completing the third harvest during the full-scale war.

We have harvested 21.7 million tonnes of wheat and 5.5 million tonnes of barley. In total, we have already harvested 28.5 million tonnes of grain this year.

This result is the hard work of tens of thousands of people and effective government programmes to help our farmers.

First of all, it is access to soft loans and grants, as well as specialised subsidies.

This week, we started accepting applications for another support programme. This is to help those developing irrigation systems.

The state budget has allocated UAH 200 million to support land reclamation and the restoration of reclamation systems.

If a farmer invests his own funds, the state will support him by covering up to 50% of the costs of reconstruction or construction of new irrigation systems.

In practice, we are increasing the area of irrigated land, improving the energy efficiency of the systems, and increasing the yield and productivity of the agricultural sector.

Today, we are also adopting a resolution to actually launch another programme to support farmers – a mechanism for providing special subsidies for farmers working in frontline regions.

The state will pay UAH 1,000 per hectare of land if a farmer works in the area of possible warfare, and UAH 2,000 per hectare if it is a combat zone.

We understand how difficult it is to sow and harvest on these lands and in these communities, so we will support our people who work there.

I thank everyone who works for a strong Ukraine.

I thank everyone who is protecting our future today.

Thank you for your attention.

Glory to Ukraine!