Topical Events

The solemn opening of the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Lithuania was held 18 February in Odesa. The opening ceremony was attended by the Honorary Consul of the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Lithuania in Odesa Elena Drutis, MFA Representative in Odesa Konstantin Rzhepishevsky, Odesa Mayor Oleksiy Kostusev, the representatives of foreign diplomatic missions and others. // more

Participants in the Sea Breeze 2013 exercises will conduct security operations at sea with an emphasis on emergency evacuations. Participating in the event, apart from the Ukrainian and US sides, are also representatives of other countries that confirmed their participation in the exercises: Germany, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, Canada, Italy and Bulgaria. // more

Concert as part of the All-Ukrainian tour in memory of Whitney Houston “We will always love you” will be held 9 February in Odesa. Ukrainian tour in memory of Whitney Houston “We will always love you” will be held through 5 ― 10 February. The audience can observe the 3D-hologram of the singer. It was the world's first holographic image of Whitney Houston created with the help of “digital resurrection” technology. The essence of this technology is to combine the time-lapse video processing, 3D-visualization and complex animations using special software. This holographic image of Whitney Houston can be observed only in Ukraine, because it was specifically designed exclusively for this tour. // more

The restoring of the Kartal Lake in the Danube Delta is planned in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund. As on 30 January, 2013, 164 countries are the members of the Ramsar Convention. 2 thousand 83 wetlands of international importance with a total area 197 million 849 thousand 428 hectares are situated on their territory. 33 wetlands with total area of 744 thousand hectares protected under the Convention are situated in Ukraine (8 in Odesa region). They are: the northern part of the Dniester Liman, Shagany-Alibey-Burnas lake system, Tiligulskiy Liman, Dniesterís overflows land, Kartal Lake, Kugurluy Lake, Sasyk Lake, Kilia branch. The last four are in the Danube region. // more

The bilateral Ukrainian-American meeting of experts on export control and border security has been held in the frontier service “Odesa” at the Odesa Commercial Sea Port. The Ukrainian side was presented by the representatives of the State Border Service, headed by the Deputy Commander of the Southern Regional Office of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine for International Cooperation, Lt. Col. Fedir Belinsky, senior officials of the customs point “Odesa-Port” of Yuzhny Custom and post of environmental control of the Odesa State Ecological Inspectorate. The American side was presented by the leader of the Export Control and Border Security Programme (EXBS, US State Department), Mr. James Kelly, the expert on the control of the global trade of SECURUS Strategic Trade Solutions (USA), Mr Richard Young and others. // more

Ukraine’s Unity and Freedom Day festively has been celebrated in Odesa. Festive ceremony of flowers laying to Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko monuments took place yesterday, 22 January, on occasion of Ukraine’s Unity and Freedom Day. // more

The Second Charitable Diplomatic Christmas Fair took place 16 December at Odesa Commercial Sea Port Exhibition Complex.
Almost all diplomatic missions, the national diasporas and series of enterprises of the region invited guests to join to the cultural traditions of other nations.
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Director of Museum of Western and Eastern Art Volodymyr Ostrovskyi noted the restoration process of the painting “The Taking of Christ” by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is very slow.
“Unfortunately, in our opinion, the restoration process of this painting is very slow. Initially the National Restoration Centre in Kyiv referred to the prohibition of any restoration work, while investigating actions. Now they are over. And we hope our restoration work will be much more active”, the Director noted.
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In the framework of the XVII Official Regional “Miss Odessa” – “Miss Ukraine-South 2013” Beauty Contest the most beautiful girls have been defined.
The President of «Miss Ukraine — the South» committee Tatyana Savchenko noted the Finals of the XVII Official Regional “Miss Odessa” – “Miss Ukraine-South 2013” Beauty Contest was held in the Victory Gardens concert hall on Saturday, 8 December. // more

The International Olympic Committee executive board disqualified the medalist Yuriy Bilonog from Odesa of his 2004 gold due to doping and ordered him to return the medal that he won in the Athens Olympics. // more

Odesa private notary Elena Mozoleva won the title of “Mrs Europe 2012” in Minsk. // more

19th Advisory Board Meeting (ABM) of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) has been held today, 22 November, in Odesa. Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Ian Tombinsky chaired the meeting. The Ambassador noted the achievements of the Mission and its Moldovan and Ukrainian partners, and said EUBAM carries out as the important regional player. // more

The initial conference of the Ukrainian-American exercises Sea Breeze 2013 in the spirit of “Partnership for Peace” started in Odesa. The event was attended by the delegations from the organizers of the training ― Ukraine and the United States, and more than 10 countries, which are now agreed to participate in the training.  // more

The Bible with Salvador Dali's illustrations has been presented at the exhibition in Odesa. It was presented in “Victory Gardens” shopping centre in Odesa. The limited collector's edition of the Bible with illustrations by Salvador Dali appeared in Ukraine for the first time. The circulation of the Bible is limited (500 copies in Ukraine). // more

Forbes magazine has released its 2012 ranking of the richest people in Odesa. In the latest issue of Forbes magazine the list of 20 richest people of Odesa was published. Their total fortune is more than $ 1 billion. // more

The results of the V International Piano Competition in memory of Emil Gilels have been summarized and the winners have been decided. The competition in memory of Emil Gilels consisted of a qualifying round, two rounds and a final solo, accompanied by a symphony orchestra. // more

Black Sea Transport Forum has been opened in Odesa. The Forum will be held 23 ― 25 October at the Exhibition Complex Odesa Sea Commercial Port. In the framework of the Forum following events will be held: International exhibition on transport and logistics «TransUkraine 2012», and also some specialized exhibitions: «Commercial and Municipal Transport 2012», «TransRail Ukraine 2012», «Warehouse Technologies 2012» and the conference on transport and logistics “Transit potential of Ukraine. Effective infrastructure and logistics on transport in South-East European countries”. // more

The Stele “Massalia” in honor of the twin city Marseille will be opened in Odesa in 2013.This sculpture will be the gift from Marseille to Odesa. A few years ago, the French architect Michel Perloff, with the support of the French Cultural Centre Alliance Française, proposed to establish a symbolic stele “Massalia”. The name of composition is the old Greek name of Marseille. According to the architect, this sculptural composition will be a symbol of the same origin of the twin cities. // more

Odesa region delegation has held the presentation of economic and investment potential of the region at the meeting of The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 2 ― 4 October, the Odesa region delegation visited Strasbourg, France, in order to present economic and investment potential of Odesa region in the framework of the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. // more

Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Chairman of the Panel of Experts Organizing Committee of The Mikhail Vorontsov Honorary Medal for Special Contribution to Development of Odesa Region Sergiy Grynevetsky awarded the former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma with the Mikhail Vorontsov Honorary Medal. // more

Erasmus Mundus consortium meeting was held at the Odesa National Mechnikov University. The heads of universities of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine and France attended the event. // more

Odesa International Film Festival has opened the call for entries for International Competition and Ukrainian National Competition. International competition programme includes full-length films of high artistic quality for a wide audience («art mainstream»). // more

Dry red wine Shabo “Saperavi Reserve” has won the silver medal at the XII MUNDUS VINI Great International Wine Award in Germany. The XII MUNDUS VINI Great International Wine Award was held in Neustadt, Germany, the press service reported. More than one thousand companies from around the world presented 6 thousand 250 samples of wine products that were professionally tested by more than 300 members of the jury ― the leading experts of wine from 46 countries. // more

President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych has given instructions after visiting the Odesa region. President Yanukovych read the draft of instructions during the meeting with Odesa regional officials 18 September. // more

Today, Odesa Mayor Oleksiy Kostusev has held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Mr Toichi Sakata. The envoy came to Odesa for the first time. The diplomat said that the development of relations at the local level between individual cities and regions is no less important than cooperation at the state level. // more

The airlines Air Arabia is launching flights to Odesa. // more

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) gathered for its 3rd Summit of the Black Sea regions bordering the Black Sea, experts and representatives of the European Union. The 70 participants unanimously recognized the importance of interregional cooperation, both from a geostrategic and environmental point of view. // more

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The representatives of Scottish bureau of BBC TV Company screened port’s views from the roof of passenger terminal building to make a movie about the life of Scottish soldier during the Second World War. This was the grandfather of the host and journalist of BBC shooting team Norman McArthur. According to Mr McArthur the recordings in the port will show the part of documentary under conditional name “Odesa transit”. McArthur the elder was in fascist captivity during almost all war and after liberation he conveyed ex-war prisoners from Odessa to Europe by sea. Estimated time of movie screening on the BBC ALBA is autumn 2012. // more

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