Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has named another condition for EU's macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.
In particular, the EU envoy has reacted to an analytical Piece by the Atlantic Council, which claimed "Ukraine's vaccine problems have been aggravated by escalating tensions between the Ministry of Health and the Medical Procurement Agency."
Read alsoUkraine to buy COVID-19 vaccine via UK firm – Minister"Transferring all centralized procurement to the Agency is also a condition for EU's macro-financial assistance," the Ambassador wrote on Twitter on January 29, 2021.
Background
On January 15, 2021, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said the UK-based Crown Agents would be purchasing COVID-19 vaccines for Ukraine. The relevant decision was made by the Cabinet of Ministers.
According to the minister, Crown Agents will be authorized to conclude contracts in keeping with the preliminary negotiations held by the Health Ministry and the country's leadership, as well as logistical support of goods.
The minister stressed it was decided to change the procurement organization, namely State Enterprise "Medical Procurement of Ukraine" since its activities were allegedly "extremely ineffective" at the end of 2020. "I consider the organization of the process [of the vaccine procurement] by the company's management ineffective," he said.
