An undersea road tunnel opened to traffic on Monday in Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

   The tunnel, accommodating a two-way six-lane urban expressway beneath Dalian Bay, is the first immersed tube undersea tunnel in north China, said Sun Zhu, deputy chief engineer of Dalian Bay Undersea Tunnel Co., Ltd., which is in charge of building and operating the tunnel.

   The designed traffic speed in the 5.1-km tunnel is 60 km per hour, said Sun. Construction of the tunnel took some four years.

   The road connecting the tunnel went operational on Monday, linking the northern and southern coasts of Dalian Bay, helping to alleviate traffic congestion and expand the space for urban development in Dalian.

 Produced by Xinhua Global Service

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Ilia Darchiashvili and the Minister of Economy and Industry of the State of Israel, Nir Barkat signed a joint declaration on completion of the technical and economic feasibility study for a free trade agreement between Georgia and the State of Israel. 

Before the signing ceremony, the Minister had a meeting with the Minister of Economy and Industry of Israel. Within the framework of the meeting, the sides discussed current issues on the agenda of bilateral and multilateral cooperation and the great potential of cooperation in the economic area, including bilateral trade, investments and tourism.
Within the framework of the two-day visit, Ilia Darchiashvili will meet with his Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, and the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog.
Meetings with the chairman of the Knesset, ministers of economy, tourism and internal affairs are also planned. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Centre on behalf of the Georgian people.

Today the European Union is providing another €1.5 billion to Ukraine under its annual macro-financial assistance package. 

The European Commission made today a third payment of €1.5 billion under the Macro-financial Assistance (MFA)+ package for Ukraine, worth up to €18 billion. 

This support will help Ukraine cover its immediate financial needs: to continue paying salaries and pensions and to maintain basic public services such as hospitals, schools and housing for the displaced. It will also allow Ukraine to ensure macroeconomic stability and restore critical infrastructure destroyed by Russia in its war of aggression, such as energy infrastructure, water systems, transport networks, roads and bridges.

Today’s payment comes after the Commission found that Ukraine continued to make satisfactory progress to strengthen the rule of law, enhance financial stability, improve the functioning of the gas system and promote a better business climate. 

This finding will also enable the disbursement of two further monthly payments of €1.5 billion each in May and June.

Overall, since the start of the war, the support to Ukraine and Ukrainians amounts to around €68 billion. 

“We will continue helping Ukraine resist Russia’s aggression, keep its institutions and infrastructure running, and conduct crucial reforms,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.

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Press release

A delegation from the committee for European Union affairs of the German Bundestag will visit Georgia from May 2^nd to 5^th, 2023. Members of the delegation are: Christian Petry (SPD, Head of delegation), Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU/CSU), Michael Sacher (BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN), Thomas Hacker (FDP) and Dr. Harald Weyel (AfD).

During the visit, meetings are planned with the Minister of Justice, H.E. Rati Bregadze, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, H.E. Levan Davitashvili, and Deputy Foreign Minister, H.E. Teimuraz Janjalia.

Furthermore, the delegation will hold talks with the Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili and the chairmen of several committees of the Georgian Parliament.

The program is completed by exchanges with representatives of civil society, the media, business and cultural institutions.

As Georgia submitted an application for membership to the European Union in March 2022 and has had the prospect of joining the EU since June 2022, the talks will concern necessary reforms and the structure of relations and cooperation between Georgia and the EU.

Against the background of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the focus will also be on coordinating questions of foreign and security policy, as well as on the regional effects of the war and geopolitical aspects.