Denys Shmyhal tackles reforms in Ukraine with G7 Ambassadors

On Thursday, May 28, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal met with the Ambassadors of the G7 States.

In particular, there were participating in the meeting Chargé d'Affaires of the United States of America in Ukraine Kristina Kvien, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to Ukraine Davide La Cecilia, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Takashi Kurai, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Ukraine Melinda Simmons, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine Larisa Galadza, Head of the EU Delegation in Ukraine Matti Maasikas, Officer of the Economic Department of the US Embassy in Ukraine Lyn Debevoise.

From the Ukrainian side, there were also present at meeting Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko, Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov, acting Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine Olha Buslavets and others.

The participants discussed the situation with overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic Stimulus Program approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to respond to the challenges entailed by the coronavirus epidemic, continuing medical reform in Ukraine, Ukraine's cooperation with the IMF and other topical issues of cooperation.

In particular, Denys Shmyhal stressed that the coronavirus pandemic had given certain impetus to Ukrainian reforms, primarily the health care reform. "Amidst the pandemic, this is the reform, the need for which and the shortcomings of which have become the most evident. The reform of the healthcare sector should be completed with the help of our international partners, but the coronavirus-inflicted crisis has revealed the flaws while making preliminary calculations of this reform, so we have embarked on the recalculation of the tariffs with the NHSU as well as service packages. If an infectious disease hospital does not have any patients, it does not mean that doctors should not be paid. Another problem is psychiatry and tuberculosis dispensaries. All those require peculiar attention and separate calculations, hence the second stage of reform may protract. And we will ask you for support in the implementation of this reform," said Denys Shmyhal.

Apart from that, according to the PM, the current agenda include those reforms capable of providing impetus and facilitating economic development. "Those are the customs reform, a reform of small and micro business taxation. Another critical reform is to carry out what we call the "regulatory guillotine" - a reform of deregulation to ease the work of small businesses," stressed the Prime Minister.

The Head of Government announced that the need for privatization is a top priority on the agenda as well. "But the question is the price at which the company can be privatized against the backdrop of the slowdown. The TOP-10 companies have already been prepared for privatization in June. For instance, we can announce the sale of the Dnipro Hotel, but what price can we set during the crisis, when the hotel business has been suspended? Certainly, we will analyze at what time to put the top companies up for sale, but the so-called small-scale privatization will take place according to plan, regardless of the crisis," emphasized Denys Shmyhal.

Focusing on the financial or industrial support of major industrial enterprises with a large share of state ownership, Denys Shmyhal accentuated that there is an idea to use this as one of the tools to trigger the economy and industrial development. "We intend to increase funding and orders in the industrial and defense sectors this year in order to save jobs, as well as to allow related businesses operation. This is part of our large plan to exit the economic crisis."

Moreover, the Prime Minister thanked "all donors and all G7 States for their support and assistance in the implementation of decentralization reform," recalling that the previous day at the Government meeting there had been finalized the formation of long-term plans for the consolidated communities’ territories to cover all regions of the country.