The Road to Vilnius: Priorities Toward the Next Ukraine Reform Conference was held on May 21 with the participation of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal. The event was aimed to prepare for the Ukraine Reform Conference scheduled for July 7-8, 2021 in Vilnius (Lithuania).

The conference was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna, Foreign Minister of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis, Deputy Director-General, DG NEAR Katarína Mathernová, and Head of Programmes at the EU Anti-Corruption Initiatives in Ukraine Eka Tkeshelashvili.

The Prime Minister stressed that the Government of Ukraine had systematically approached the preparation of key program documents of the country. First of all, the Government's Action Program and the Government's Priority Action Plan.

"The Government has also approved the National Economic Strategy until 2030, which was developed by more than 500 participants. The Strategy defines a long-term economic vision, vectors and red lines of economic development. The document determines concrete steps for the development of industry, agriculture, mining, infrastructure, transport, energy, information and communication technologies, creative industries and services sector," stressed Denys Shmyhal.

In addition, according to the Head of Government, NES-2030 takes into account important cross-cutting areas that are crucial for the currect European integration policy - digitalization, the green course, business development and balanced regional development.

In his statement, the Prime Minister noted that Ukraine shares and fully supports the EU’s climate ambitions and is preparing ambitious proposals for the Second Nationally Determined Contribution.

"The Government is committed to take the EU Green Deal into account in its policy. In order to develop our agenda in accordance with the EU Green Deal, we in synergy with the EU have launched a separate dialogue with the European Commission," the Prime Minister noted.

According to Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine submitted its proposals for cooperation to the EU and the parties jointly identified 3 top priorities: energy efficiency, hydrogen, and the transformation of coal regions.

The Prime Minister also reminded that in February this year, during the 7th meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council, an agreement had been reached on further joint steps, first of all, on integration into the EU internal market and deepening sectoral integration.

"To date, the parties have begun an internal assessment of the achievement of the goals of the Association Agreement. In addition, work is underway to further review the liberalization of trade in goods within the framework of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU," the Head of Government told.

According to Denys Shmyhal, the political dialogue with NATO at the level of the Government, public authorities and experts sees its active stage.

The Head of Government added that consultations had been launched between the Alliance and Ukraine to agree on further joint steps.

"Purposeful and planned transition of the security and defense sector of Ukraine, its Armed Forces to NATO standards, is among the Government's topmost priorities," said Denys Shmyhal.

The Prime Minister expressed hope that the Reform Conference in Vilnius in July this year and the planned activities would contribute to a better understanding of reforms in Ukraine and greater involvement of international partners.