Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, together with Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Andrii Reva met with representatives of trade unions, who took part in protest marches of unions on Wednesday.

The participants discussed urgent issues of social protection in terms of establishing the market price for gas, as well as actions of the Government on the development of the national economy.

Volodymyr Groysman has noted that the key priority of the Government is to achieve macroeconomic stability and economic development of the country. He has pointed out that the indicator of the high-level economy is the quality of life and level of wages of citizens. Thus, the Government and trade unions share common objectives, he stressed.

"We all want Ukraine to be economically strong, its economy to show an increase, wages to be transparent and sufficient. We think the same way," he highlighted.

The Prime Minister has assured that the Government intends to "create a real basis" for economic growth.

"The key priority of the Government is macroeconomic stability, including through unpopular measures. The second issue, which is extremely important, is to develop the economic development of our country, finally put an end to populism, promise that will not happen, while we must start to change the situation by carrying out real things," he said.

The meeting also discussed the gas pricing in Ukraine. The Prime Minister informed the representatives of trade unions that the established in Ukraine market gas price will encourage energy efficiency in the country, the development of Ukrainian gas extraction and combating corruption in the gas sector. Thus, the state budget lost USD 53 billion due to the existence of different prices for gas, said Volodymyr Groysman.

The Prime Minister briefed his interlocutors on the Government's actions towards energy efficiency. Thus, the Government approved the strategy of hydropower, the Ukraine Energy Efficiency Fund will start its work in 2017. This will stimulate job creation, he said.

Volodymyr Groysman highlighted the state will provide targeted social assistance to citizens who need it via the system of subsidies. Social support depends on the income of the person.

However, the key task of the Government is to boost the salaries of citizens, reform the payroll system in Ukraine. In autumn, the Government will offer the Ukrainian Parliament a variant to ensure the fair system of payroll calculation that will be developed jointly with the trade unions, the Prime Minister emphasized.