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Ukraine’s economy in the context of international economic relations

On the map of the world you can find a new independent state with a thousand-year-old history – Ukraine. It borders on Belarus and Russia in the north and in the east. In the west Ukraine is bounded by Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Great areas are occupied by steppes and forest-steppe regions. The main part of Ukraine is located in the watershed of the Dnipro River, which divides Ukraine into two parts: Right-Bank and Left-Bank Ukraine.

The territory of our country has an astonishing variety of landscapes. We have high mountains, endless forests, beautiful rivers and lakes. The largest lake of Ukraine is Swityaz, its total area is 24.2 sq.km and the depth is 58.5 metres.

Within the borders of Ukraine we find the Carpathian Mountains with the highest peak Hoverla (2061) which is located in the Chornohora massif.

The Crimean Mountains stretch in three parallel ranges. The Main Range is the highest, rising to 1500 m above sea level. Its highest peak is Roman Kosh (1545 m.).

To have an idea of Ukraine’s economic potential and define the scale of reforms which must be carried out let us get acquainted with some objective data. Ukraine is situated in the geographical center of Europe. The country occupies a territory of 604 thousand square kilometers. Ukrainian’s population is 48 million, more than 74 percent of whom are Ukrainians. For comparison the population of Germany is 79.7 million people, Great Britain – 57, Poland – 39, Finland - 5. Ten million ethnic Ukrainians live outside the country on the territories of the former Soviet Union, and close to 5 million live in other foreign countries. The diaspora is the strongest in Canada and the USA. There are 6 cities in Ukraine with a population of over 1 million.

Ukraine takes a leading place in iron ore extraction, production of steel, cast iron, tractors, mineral fertilizers, sugar, and grain; it also succeeded in coal mining, producing concrete, electric energy and various equipments.

In the south of the country Ukraine has access to the Black Sea and the Sea of Above which are connected with the ocean. Twenty-seven thousand kilometers of railroads intertwine throughout the territory of Ukraine.

Oil and gas pipelines of international significance go through the territory of Ukraine. Fees from transit oil and gas pipelines pay for most of the imported products. Ukraine’s main importers of oil and gas are Russia and Turkmenistan. In spite of great reserves of coal, the importance of rock-coal in the energy balance is decreasing, and this tendency will continue in the future because the layers are located very deep and their extraction becomes more and more costly. That is why Ukraine should pay more attention to regeneration sources of energy: solar, wind, hydrothermal, and even more attention to resources and energy saving technologies.

Steppes and plains compose the most part of the territory of Ukraine. The top soils are mainly black. They are the biggest treasure of the Ukrainian land. 25 percent of world’s black rich soils are in Ukraine. Together with the fact, that Ukraine’s climate is mainly moderately continental, it allows for considerable progress in agricultural production under the conditions of market economy. Sugar beets, wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, sun flower, flax, buckwheat, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cabbages, also a large variety of grain cultures, fruits and vegetables are grown in Ukraine.

Because of her potential Ukraine is an industrial-agricultural country. Her machine-building potential includes tractors and agricultural machine-building, production of diesel locomotives and railroad cars, automobiles, rockets, sea and river vessels, refrigerators, TV-sets, electric motors, equipment for metallurgic, chemical, mine and textile industries.

Natural and human recourses are sufficient for creating a developed internal market and becoming a friendly and equal partner in the world market.

3. Find equivalents in two columns:

To border розділяти

To divide соняшник

Neighbour вугілля

Fertile black soil мати спільний кордон

Coal нафтопровід

Iron ore нафта

Oil кольорова металургія

Oil pipeline льон

Independence погіршуватись

Non ferrous metallurgy цукровий буряк

Sugar beet незалежність

Flax плодоносний чорнозем

Sunflower сусід

To deteriorate залізна руда

Cast iron зменшувати

Concrete бетон

To decrease енергозберігаючі технології

Energy saving technologiesё чавун

4. Translate the following words and word combinations:

Rock-coal, great reserves, extraction, mineral fertilizers, sea level, moderately continental, considerable progress, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, cabbages, vessel, to create, internal market.

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Дата добавления: 2015-09-03