Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine sees substitution of imported gas with coal as a strategic issue, noted the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov. “We are interested in the Chinese technology of coal gasification and coal-water fuel production,” he said during the meeting with Li Jiping, Vice President of the China Development Bank, reports China Daily.

China is not only open to the opportunity to share its technology with Ukraine but is also ready to provide a USD 3.5 billion loan to help Ukraine switch its plants from gas to coal, states China Daily.

Before the introduction of the industrial-scale production of natural gas, coal gasification was used to provide municipal lighting and heat. Original technology was associated with a vast list of environmental concerns, including soil and groundwater contamination with poisonous byproducts.

Nowadays, “coal gasification offers one of the most versatile and clean ways to convert coal into electricity, hydrogen and other valuable energy products,” said George Muntean, the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, as quoted by sciencedaily.com. Coal gasification does not involve burning coal, the rock is broken down using high temperature and pressure instead. This technology allows for easier extraction of carbon dioxide from a gas stream.

Another option for Ukraine would be to use coal-water slurry fuel, sometimes referred to as coal-in-water or CWS, instead of oil and gas at heating and power stations. The fuel is a mixture of coal and water. The use of CWS allows to reduce emissions in the atmosphere by 20 to 35 percent. Reportedly, such fuel is explosion-proof. Moreover, the price of CWS may be 30 to 70 percent lower than that of oil or gas due to the geographical locations of oil and gas fields.

Interestingly, in 2011 Ukraine increased domestic coal production by 8.8 percent compared to 2010, reported Bloomberg, reaching 81.8 million tons. For the first time since 2000 the country reached such high levels of coal production.

Scaled-up investment caused such coal production boost, informed Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Boyko. Additional funding allocation led to modernization of the coal industry of Ukraine, raising its efficiency. Notably, investment into the coal industry of Ukraine upped by 8 percent in 2011 reaching USD 210 million.

The article Ukraine Interested in Chinese Substitutes for Gas appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Kyiv, Ukraine — The parliament of Ukraine adopted a law providing for open, transparent, and democratic parliamentary elections on October 28th, 2012. The parliament ruled to equip most polling stations with web-cameras, broadcasting the signal from the stations online.

The installation of the web-cameras at the voting stations enables anyone with internet access to watch elections in Ukraine in real time. According to the Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, 34,000 voting stations will be equipped with cameras. Each voting station will be equipped with at least two cameras.

According to the new law, the cameras should be placed in a way that does not interfere with the secret ballot system and the freedom of voting, while ensuring the procedures of voting and vote count are abided. “We will have to provide the whole country with satellite communication in order to run these web-cameras,” said the leader of the Party of Regions Olexandr Yefremov.

Meanwhile, during a meeting with a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Azarov said that Ukraine welcomed foreign observers from the CIS, the EU, the OSCE, et cetera at the autumn elections. He invited everyone who wanted to come, saying that since Ukraine hosted two million visitors during EURO 2012 it was sure ready to receive 34,000 observers. The Vice President of the OSCE Wolfgang Grossruck already accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister.

In efforts to hold free and fair elections, the Ukrainian parliament passed a new election law on November 17, 2011. It reintroduced the mixed electoral system in Ukraine. According to the new system, 225 members of the Ukrainian parliament will be elected through party lists and 225 MPs – through single-member districts.

The new law also set the election threshold of five percent, banned blocks of political parties to participate in elections, as well as excluded the previously available option of not supporting any party or candidate on the list by ticking the respective box.

Image Courtesy of   Iurii Osadchi / Shutterstock.com

The article Ukraine Pushes for More Election Transparency appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Ukraine assumes chairmanship at the Central European Initiative for the period of 2012. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, highlighted the importance of active participation of Ukraine in the work of this regional organization given the country’s strategic goal to integrate with the EU.

Ukraine replaces Serbia that presided over the CEI in 2011. In August of 2011, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, assigned the Prime Minister to prepare for the CEI presidency. On November 11, 2011, the Secretary General of the CEI, Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, visited Kyiv in preparations for the presidency of Ukraine.

The representatives of both parties agreed on the importance of deepening of cooperation between the macro regions within the CEI, including the following: the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Adriatic-Ionic, and the Danube.

Such cooperation would serve the goals of the international organization that aims to promote political, social-economic, scientific, and cultural cooperation, as well as strengthen safety and secure stability of the region. Moreover, during the meeting in Kyiv, the sides expressed full support to the core CEI missions to promote regional cooperation for European integration.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, noted that Ukraine considered the European Strategy for the Danube Region an important initiative that could enhance regional cooperation in the Danube area. He also emphasized that cooperation with the EU remained one of the main priorities of the Initiative.

On December 9, 2011, the CEI was granted the UN observer status.  The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykola Azarov, claimed to be eager to explore the opportunities this new status gives the CEI and its member states. Prime Minister Azarov suggested holding a meeting of member states’ finance ministers at the beginning of 2012. The aim of the meeting would be to jointly elaborate on a way to overcome the financial crisis.

Formed in 1989, the CEI is a forum for regional cooperation in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe. Ukraine has been cooperating with the CEI since 1992. By 1994, Ukraine became an associate member and, already in 1996, acquired full membership in the organization. 2012 is the year when Ukraine assumes the chairmanship at the CEI for the first time.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctbto/

The article Ukraine Takes Serbia’s Place for CEI Presidency appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.