Prime Minister: Mountain regions should be actively integrated into the life of the country

Remote and mountainous areas should be actively integrated into the life of the country and residents are to be provided with access to medicine, education, high-quality infrastructure. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman made this statement during a meeting on the development of mountainous territories which was held as part of the working visit to Ivano-Frankivsk region.

"It is necessary to shape approach aimed to simplify the life of the residents of mountain areas. I understand that, when it is difficult to get to school, when there is no access to medicine, education, use of infrastructure, the Head of Government said, at present, 670 thousand people facing challenges each day live in mountain regions. Our task is to restore roads, to ensure affordable medicine and education and to promote tourism development and enterprise creation".

Volodymyr Groysman drew attention to the fact that a special bill aimed to promote the development of mountainous areas has already been drafted, and at the ministerial level, apart from other things, the activities have to focus on work with communities living in such areas.

"There is even some digital discrimination in these locations, not all areas have Internet connection. During a Question Time for the Government (on Friday, March 16th), I promised that I will come to the mountains so that we could identify with the local authorities the joint follow-ups", said the Prime Minister.

He explained that the central government is committed to allocate considerable funds – to the tune of about UAH 12 billion – in particular for the development of mountainous populated areas and to work out issues of salary supplements.

"This area is a treasure for Ukraine and must be preserved. We need to find out the advantages of the region to support and invest in", the Head of Government emphasized.