Editor’s Note:  From Brooklyn, my son William told yesterday that Manhattan clubs are re-opening their doors. Admission? A QR with your vaccination code. Biden is vaccinating 3 million people a day.  All three of my adult sons in the US now are vaccinated. In my home county, Berkshires, Mass., the Boston Symphony Orchestra will resume its summer music festival. Theater and ballet festivals are planning summer schedules. Here in Ukraine, all that is needed is 40 million vaccines and anti-vax attitudes will ebb. Here are the summer choices. Fly Wizz Air to Krakow for the weekend? Of go in a BlaBlaCar crammed with cranky anti-vaxxers? Suck a beer like a booby on a park bench? Or dance the night away in a club with scantily clad members of the opposite sex? Attitudes will evolve. Just bring in the vaccines. The Rada is taking a good step to ease out all-talk, no-action Health Minister Stepanov.  With Best Regards Jim Brooke

according to the Worldometer running tally of infections and deaths. A BBC Eastern Europe coronavirus roundup shows Ukraine far behind in vaccinations. Poland, Czech and Slovakia are near the EU average — 16 jabs for every 100 people. Hungary is at 29.5. Ukraine is at 0.6. Yesterday, Zelenskiy gave his government one week to draw up a plan to vaccinate most adults by the end of this year.

The lockdown – the third in one year – comes as the city registers 1,000 new infections a day. At the end of last week, Ukraine was registering a record 20,000 new infections daily and 5,000 new hospitalizations. Iryna Ozymok, of Western NIS, wrote Thursday in an Atlantic Council blog:  “With little sign of any vaccine breakthroughs on the horizon, Ukraine looks set for many more months of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.”

and 68 of their companies, and is preparing laws to criminalize “inaccurate customs declarations,” the President said in his speech on Friday. Behind the drive is an estimate that smuggling costs the treasury $10 billion a year in lost import duties. “This is economic terrorism against Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said, referring to the lost revenue. “The fight against smuggling will be continued. Today it is the top 10, but it certainly not be the last.”

and for a 45-minute discussion. Later, Zelenskiy said in a public address: “We enjoy the full and unwavering support of international partners, including Europe and the United States. Proof of that is the conversation I had today with President of the United States Joe Biden. We discussed the situation in Donbas in detail. President Biden assured me that Ukraine would never be left alone against Russian aggression.”

 The seller, Metropoliya Group, is to continue technical support of the projects until they enter commercial operation next year, VR Capital said Thursday. In addition, VR’s Elementum Energy Ukraine is building a 100 MW wind farm in a different part of the Odesa region. Elementum owns 28 solar stations with a total capacity of 536 MW.

, the Finance Ministry wrote on Facebook. The funds will be spent on computers and to tailoring university curricula to real world employer needs. The Digital Transformation Ministry has set a goal of doubling the number of Ukrainian IT specialists, to 500,000 by 2024.

 Oleksiy Chernyshov, Minister for Community and Territorial Development, says according the government website. The announcement came at a meeting with Dragon Capital, which is building two industrial parks. The Ministry will spend almost $3 million this year on industrial parks, 10 times the amount spent in the last five years. By definition, an industrial park can contain factories, ports, warehouses.

 writes Oleksiy Blinov, Alfa’s research head. “Sunflower volume exports are up only 1.5% yoy in March, but the export price has more than doubled.” Similarly, higher grain export prices have compensated for a 23% yoy drop in grain export volumes.

wrote Alfa-Bank Ukraine. Steel export revenues were up 75% yoy and iron ore revenues were up 99% yoy. UkrMetalurgProm, the industry association, reported that in March the steel billet average export price was up 73% yoy and the rebar price was up 70%.

said Vadym Prystiako, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Britain during the Ukrainian Prism discussion. “At this rate, Britain will become one of our main trade partners by the end of this year,” he said. Noting that the Britain is now one of the top five consumers of Ukrainian services, he added: “IT is now greater than the traditional groups, such as metal, agricultural products, oil.” On December 16 2021, two weeks before Brexit went into effect, the Rada ratified a new Free Trade and Strategic Partnership between Ukraine and the UK.

Lyubov Abdravitova, Ukraine’s Ambassador to South Africa, announced at the Ukrainian Prism conference. Trade Representative Taras Kachka will lead the mission, which runs from April 13 to 18, 2021. The last high level Ukrainian visit, by a foreign minister to the region, took place 20 years ago.

 – either pipeline gas through LNG terminals in Croatia and Greece, or through eventual delivery of LNG through Turkey’s planned Istanbul Canal. Today the talks will touch on gas supply, joint investments in gas exploration in Ukraine and investment in infrastructure concession projects, Presidential Economic Advisor Tymofiy Milovanov told Ukrinform.

with Qatar’s Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Prime Minister, Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko told Ukrinform. In advance, talks have already taken place with Hassad Food, the agricultural investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority. From its base in Doha, Hassan has invested $500 million in India for the production of rice and coffee and $500 million in Australia for the production of wheat and sheep.

 It will be Zelenskiy’s second trip to the Gulf in two months, following a visit in February to Qatar’s eastern neighbor, the United Arab Emirates. Referring to a country with an economy the size of Ukraine’s but with only 2.8 million people, Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolia told Ukrinform that Qatar “is one of the richest and most influential countries on the planet.”