U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 2, 2004

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst and Yalta City Mayor Sergey Braiko will sign the grant agreement on behalf of U.S. and Ukrainian Governments. Also present at the signing ceremony will be Crimean Prime Minister Sergiy Kunitsyn, Rada Speaker Borys Deich, Presidential Representative Oleksandr Didenko, USTDA Regional Director Daniel Stein, the U.S. Department of Commerce Embassy Kyiv Office, and other officials from Ukrainian state and Crimean regional governments.

Before the signing ceremony, Ambassador Herbst will call on Prime Minister Kunitsyn, Rada Speaker Deich, and Presidential Representative Didenko in Simferopol.

The USTDA-funded study will investigate the best available options to replace the old dry-tomb landfill with an integrated waste management system that includes waste minimization, recycling and waste-to-energy conversion.

The study will also explore the best available remediation method to reclaim the old waste disposal site. The study will be carried out on behalf of the Yalta City Council by EMCON/OWT Inc. of Mahwah, New Jersey, a subsidiary of the Shaw Group, Inc., in collaboration with T3MA Group, Inc., of Warrenton, Virginia.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle-income countries. The agency funds various forms of technical assistance, feasibility studies, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment.

USTDA's strategic use of foreign assistance funds to support sound investment policy and decision-making in host countries creates an enabling environment for trade, investment and sustainable economic development. In carrying out its mission, USTDA gives emphasis to economic sectors that may benefit from U.S. exports of goods and services. Since 1992, USTDA has allocated nearly $10 million to Ukraine, of which almost $9 million were in grants for feasibility studies.