Challenges for the Government in 2018 will be the healthcare system reform, education reform, in particular improving social support for teachers, and continuing of the reform of the Customs.

This was announced by Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Olexandr Saienko in an interview with the RBK-Ukraine.

"A lot has been done, but this is not the reason to slow down. The challenges for the Government in 2018 will be further activities to pursue the healthcare reform, for which we have already adopted a large package of regulatory acts, as well as the reform of education, within the framework of which the Prime Minister initiated to modernize equipment for the junior school so that to provide children with better opportunities to study. In addition, we proposed a reform of vocational education as well as special social security for teachers, including raising social standards," the Minister told.

He noted that the Government will prolong the reform of the Customs. "We want to equip our borders with hardware to analyze the goods in automatic mode, which is a large-scale anti-smuggling initiative," Olexandr Saienko said.

He emphasized that one of his objectives and tasks for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Reform Office, he chairs, is the support of the Prime Minister's initiatives in the framework of key reforms.

The Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers noted that in 2017 the Prime Minister pushed forward a number of essential reforms and initiatives – the healthcare reform and the Available Medicines program, education reform, that of energy efficiency, in the framework of which the relevant fund was created, the pension reform and an initiative to increase minimum salary, the tax reform, in particular electronic VAT refunds, business climate improvements, road infrastructure development, and further decentralization reform.

According to Oleksandr Saienko, the introduction of reforms requires, among other things, "effective interagency cooperation, as well as a dialogue with Parliament". "As a person directly responsible for the dialogue and coordination with the Verkhovna Rada of the key legislative initiatives of the Government, I devote considerable time to discussions with members of parliamentary factions and groups to ensure the passage of reforms," stressed Oleksandr Saienko.

He accentuated that the Prime Minister attaches great importance to the formation of an effective dialogue with the Verkhovna Rada, since mutual understanding with the legislative body on key issues is the condition for the adoption of reform laws. As an example of such cooperation, he told about efficient collaboration with the deputy corps last fall, which had allowed for a number of important reforms to be launched at the end of the year and timely adoption of the State Budget for 2018.