Yulia Tymoshenko, appointed acting Prime Minister by President Viktor Yuschenko, started her work on Tuesday. She met with her predecessor Nikolai Azarov. Yulia Tymoshenko is also supposed to have a meeting with the Cabinet's secretariat.

Yulia Tymoshenko was born in 1960 in Dnipropetrovsk. She is an economist-cybernetician, Candidate of Economic Sciences, author of over 50 scientific works, leader of the group of parties "Block of Yulia Tymoshenko", people's deputy of Ukraine of the second, third and fourth convocations. At March 2002 parliamentary elections the BYUT received 7.26 percent of electors' votes. She headed the Verkhovna Rada faction of the same name.

Yulia Tymoshenko started her labor activity as an engineer-economist at the Dnipropetrovsk Engineering Works. She headed a large industrial corporation "United Power Systems of Ukraine", was a parliamentarian, head of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee and worked as Vice Prime Minister on fuel and energy industry in the Government.

In 1997 the United Power Systems of Ukraine, headed by her, solved a complex state task, which could not be solved either by the President or the Cabinet. In 1995-1996 and the first half of 1997 multibillion debts of Ukraine to Russia for natural gas were liquidated, international economic relations of Ukraine with other states in mechanical engineering, tube-rolling industry and housing construction renewed, and the flow of Ukrainian industrial products to Russia increased almost twice.

While heading the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee Yulia Tymoshenko initiates the budget reform, and during her work at the Cabinet as Vice Prime Minister for fuel and power industry she manages to help the branch out of the collapse and creates preconditions for its economic growth. In the Government Yulia Tymoshenko initiated steps, unprecedented in the history of independent Ukraine, on decriminalization of the backbone of the Ukrainian economy, the fuel and power industry. In 2000, the Government paid the population additionally 18 bn. UAH (about 3.4 bn. USD). As many as 9 bn. UAH out of this amount (about 1.7 bn. USD) was received at the expense of withdrawal of funds from the shadow sphere, banning of the barter and implementation of competitive principles on the power market.

In January 2000 representatives of large financial and industrial groups from President Kuchma's entourage, who were deprived of "shadow" superprofits through Y. Tymoshenko's reforms, pressed for the decree about her resignation to be signed by the President.

In February 2001 Yulia Tymoshenko headed united democratic forces, which demand President Leonid Kuchma's removal from office. On February 13, 2001 she was arrested under the PGO's accusations, which was estimated by the public as reprisals against a democratic movement. In March 2001 the Pechersk District Court of the Ukrainian capital recognized accusations instituted against her as groundless and reversed a sanction about her arrest.

With the start of the "orange revolution" in November 2004 Yulia Tymoshenko became one of its organizers and leaders. According to leading Ukrainian and foreign experts Yulia Tymoshenko made a significant contribution to victory of the revolution and democracy in Ukraine.

During a recent visit to Moscow, President Viktor Yuschenko stated that the new Government should include the people, who could pragmatically solve the tasks facing the power bodies.