Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman presented priorities of Government’s activities for 2019

During the Government session, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman made a presentation of the milestones for the Government, which build up key goals and benchmarks for 2019. The presentation of such an operational plan is traditional as well as reporting per quarter and half-year on the progress achieved.

"The topmost priorities for 2019 are strengthening economic growth, good governance, human capital development, the rule of law and the fight against corruption, security and defense issues", stressed Volodymyr Groysman.

According to the Head of Government, the economic growth will base on further simplification of the business climate, the reforming of the SFS in the tax and customs direction, the introduction of large-scale privatization, and the improvement of the procurement system. Particular attention is paid to the development of innovations and technical re-equipment in the industrial domain, the launch of the Export Credit Agency (ECA), further development of the agricultural sector as the industry affecting the growing trend in the economy at most.

"We must create an ecosystem of work with innovations and ensure technological solutions be translated into the real economy", said Volodymyr Groysman.

Serious incentives have been planned in the energy sector. Among those are the development of a full-fledged gas and electricity market, open auctions for permits for the extraction of fossil fuels and the launch of the Energy Efficiency Fund as a source of funding for programs of efficient resource consumption.

"The Energy Efficiency Fund will administer the funding worth UAH 6-7 billion at least to be directed to modernizing the housing stock. While the total investment flow in this sector can reach UAH 14 billion. The first projects will be implemented in the first quarter of next year", told the Prime Minister. The work in the infrastructure development segment and directly the Road Fund will be the systemic one as well. In fact, emphasis will be made not only on the construction of road network but also on the traffic safety measures. "We have developed a strategic roadmap for the development of roads up to 2022, and we carry out this plan on annual basis", stressed Volodymyr Groysman.

Another priority is effective governance, which involves staffing the civil service, expanding the range of e-services for citizens, and integrating of the identification systems. "We also switch to a three-year budget planning. This means that we will assume long-term commitments for the Ukrainian citizens to realize what we do in 2020, 2021 and 2022. This would allow us to plan expenditures in such a way as to settle the problem that we see", the Head of Government noted.

In the context of improving governance, there is included the introduction of a new stage of decentralization, which will base on the forming of a new territorial organization on the basis of amalgamation, as well as making amendments to the Constitution to ensure the consolidation and promotion of the reform, is being put into place.

We take it a separate priority the human resource development. It implies quality education - schooling, vocational, inclusive, online educational resources and the possibility of retraining citizens regardless of age, as well as the continuation of medical reform towards the launch of new free services for the citizens and the renewal of emergency care." The PM reminded that yesterday, December 17, an Agreement with the EU on the development of vocational education was signed in Brussels. The amount of funding is more than EUR 50 million. Implementation of the Agreement will allow changing the philosophy of vocational education significantly - to update the base and introduce the duality principles.

Peculiar attention is paid to the social protection of pensioners and working citizens, the protection of veterans with further updating of the legal framework, as well as the support of cultural heritage.

"Culture and spirituality should be maintained", stressed Volodymyr Groysman. "Meanwhile, we must support two important projects: the Museum of the Revolution of Dignity and the Holodomor Victims Memorial (second turn)."

Referring to the Rule of Law priority, the Head of Government told about the plan to launch the Anti-Corruption Court, to prolong ‘I have the right’ initiative, to launch a laboratory of cyber criminology.

The priority Security and Defense includes the full provision of the army and the introduction of aviation brigades into the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the SES. "We will also be modernizing fire and rescue equipment, supporting our citizens being Kremlin captives. Here is the essential thing to bring them back home. And we trigger the program of psychological support for the civilian population in Donbas. This is intense pain, and we must create support mechanisms", emphasized Volodymyr Groysman.

The PM accentuated that the voiced priorities are only part of work. "The overarching objectives include maintaining stability, economic growth and prolonging the transformations that will make the country prosper", the Prime Minister added.