Ukraine pitches e-gov’t, procurement, mapping apps, long-term grain contracts

UKRAINE has offered the Philippines applications to digitize government functions, procurement and land mapping.

“We have presented three applications which are commercialized. One application is the e-governance application. This product is already market-ready, and we even have the commercial structures prepared to engage with the interested parties here,” Denys Mykhailiuk, a counselor at the Ukrainian Embassy in Malaysia, said at a briefing at the Makati Diamond Residences on Wednesday.

“The second one is the ProZorro platform…, a procurement platform for the government,” he added. “It’s an advanced technological solution (that is) able to reduce the transaction costs and… (human intervention) in the procurement process, so it fights corruption.”

The third app digitalizes aerial and satellite images of land, Mr. Mykhailiuk said.

“It can be used for city planning (and) agriculture, so it’s widely used,” he said. “There will be no need to send thousands of people to measure the land. It will be done through images with our software.”

Ukraine submitted proposals on Tuesday to the departments of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), National Defense and Foreign Affairs.

“The next step might be the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between our digitalization ministry and the DICT, for example, but the ball is on the Filipino side,” he said. “We just kicked the ball to your side yesterday, and we’re waiting for a pass back.”

Ukraine is seeking to improve trade with the Philippines to remedy the 94% drop in its bilateral trade after Russia’s invasion, the counselor said.

He proposed that Ukraine supply the Philippines with more grain, one of its top exports, on long-term contract arrangements.

He said the Philippines can build up a grain bank to minimize the impact of volatile market prices for grain.

Ukraine also hoped for Philippine humanitarian assistance to those affected by the war, as well as participation in rebuilding the country.

He said the reconstruction plan involves bringing in Filipino construction workers to Ukraine.

“We will begin talks about Filipino workers to come because this reconstruction effort will need a significant increase in labor,” he said.

“Ukraine, the like majority of European states, is an aging country. Hard-working Filipinos will be very welcomed there,” he added.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is also expected to visit the Philippines around June or July, Mr. Mykhailiuk said.

It hopes to open an embassy in the Philippines by the end of the year, subject to budget availability as much of the Ukrainian government’s funding is currently dedicated to defense. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan