The European Union aims to finalize and sign at least three stalled trade agreements this year as the bloc looks to reinforce strategic alliances amid the turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández Tuesday met in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on the first day of his European tour which will also include encounters with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Speaking before the European Parliament in Strasbourg and later in Berlin, French president Emmanuel Macron proposed a new “European political community,” which would include both members and non-members of the EU, and thus incorporating Ukraine and even possibly the United Kingdom.
The European Union is set to give some member states heavily dependent on Russian oil – such as Hungary and Slovakia – time until the end of 2024 to comply with the proposed embargo on oil imports from Russia, as the bloc is looking to keep a united front against Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, reported Bloomberg on Friday.
Russian soldiers have reportedly looted some five million dollars worth of agricultural state-of-the-art equipment from Ukraine, but it is not clear whether they have been able to man it, given their sophisticated software system.
The Bank of England on Thursday increased for the fourth consecutive time the base rate interest to 1% in an attempt to contain inflation and despite admitting the prospect of recession. The energy crunch, the Russian war in Ukraine, and lesser household incomes are expected to contribute to weaker growth.
Soybeans, corn, sugar, coffee, beef, pork, and chicken are the main goods in Brazil’s export portfolio, and should benefit from the current 'food inflation' in world markets until probably 2023, says analyst Elizabeth Johnson from the TS Lombardy consultancy.
The UK's ambassador to Ukraine has said she feels comfortable returning to Kyiv despite Russian threats against diplomats in the capital. Melinda Simmons arrived in the city late on Friday, following the announcement last month that Britain would be reopening its embassy there in a show of support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu insisted over the weekend that the Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was conducting a series of efforts to organize a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
UK defense authorities Friday confirmed they were deploying some 8,000 of its troops to continental Europe between April and June from Finland to North Macedonia in what is regarded as the largest movement of military resources since the Cold War.