On 17 September 2018, the MTWTU Chairman Michael Kirieiev met with the Director-General for Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Serhii Pohoreltsev and Ukraine’s MFA representative in Odessa Kostyantyn Rzhepishevskyy.
Michael Kirieiev informed the guests of the MTWTU activities, goals and plans for the future, while the major topic of the discussion was the first achievements of the Maritime Information Center (MIC), established jointly by the Union and the Ministry.
Recall that the MIC was launched on the 28th of June, 2018, when a couple days later there was signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the MTWTU and the MFA of Ukraine. The signed MoU provides for cooperation, aimed at supporting Ukrainian seafarers stranded abroad as a result of emergencies.
According to Michael Kirieiev, through the joint efforts of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the MTWTU, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and its diplomatic missions in different countries, as well as lawyers, seafarers’ relatives and various parties concerned, 57 Ukrainian seafarers returned back home in June and July of 2018.
"I can safely say that our objectives correlate, speaking about our activities towards Ukrainian seafarers, who are far from the homeland in a difficult situation, said Serhii Pohoreltsev. Unfortunately, while our seafarers have to work on vessels flying the foreign flags, this subject cannot be closed. We have a lot to do in this direction. Thank you for your cooperation, for understanding and for your work. Please be confident of full support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine."
