Good afternoon, dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainians.

Today, the Government has made personnel decisions. First of all, I would like to thank Pavlo Riabikin and Serhii Shkarlet for their work. The past few years have been a time of continuous challenges and extremely difficult tasks. So I thank you and wish you success.

Today, the Parliament backed the appointments of Oksen Lisovyy as Minister of Education and Science and Oleksandr Kamyshyn as Minister of Strategic Industries. MPs also supported the increase in powers and responsibilities for Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. He will now be responsible not only for digitalization, but also for innovation, technology, science and education. I am confident that the newly appointed ministers and the Deputy Prime Minister will quickly grasp all the projects, get involved and reinforce the Government. Welcome to our team!

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I would also like to thank our European colleagues and friends for their recent decisions in support of Ukraine.

Yesterday, the European Union agreed to supply Ukraine with one million rounds of ammunition. And today, the EU has transferred another tranche of macro-financial assistance in the amount of EUR 1.5 billion. The funds are already in the NBU's accounts.

Since the start of the year, overall financial assistance from the European Union has totaled EUR 4.7 billion. These resources will allow the state to maintain macro-financial stability, pay social benefits and pensions, and fund salaries for teachers and doctors in full.

Together with our European partners, we are preparing a large-scale recovery programme for 2023. For this purpose, an effective reconstruction infrastructure, high-quality projects and procedures based on European rules are being formed.

Today, the Government shall approve the draft law "On Projects of National Interest in the Energy Sector". The adoption of this document will allow for reduction of bureaucratic procedures and stimulation of investments in the energy sector. This will make it possible to distribute investments in joint energy projects with our European partners, thus contributing to the rapid recovery and strengthening of the resilience of our energy system

In the sector of international cooperation we shall approve a resolution on the continuation and necessary funding of the President's Grain from Ukraine initiative. Our country remains one of the guarantors of global food security. Just this week, another ship carrying 30,000 tonnes of humanitarian wheat has been shipped to Yemen. We are allocating the necessary funding to ensure that the initiative continues.

An additional 125,000 tonnes of wheat or corn will be procured and then delivered as humanitarian aid to African countries. In total, Ukraine has already shipped over 25 million tonnes of agricultural products through the Black Sea ports as part of the Grain Initiative. We expect not only to continue but also to expand this project.

We are also implementing other government initiatives to support the Ukrainian economy. In particular, this concerns labour market reform. Today we are to adopt a document that expands the range of people eligible for a special voucher for professional retraining, advanced training, and education. This is a voucher of more than UAH 25,000 provided by the Employment Centre to help people learn new skills and professions and find a job in demand on the labour market.

The labour market sees quick change and we will help people who want to learn a new profession and get a job.

In the framework of the social sector reform we have on the agenda today a pilot project to switch some social institutions to financing based on the model of the healthcare guarantee system. Currently, in Ukraine, a fixed amount is not allocated to medical institutions, but payments are made for the number of services provided to patients. As part of the pilot project, we plan to introduce a similar model for social services in two institutions of the Ministry of Social Policy. We have already seen that this model helps to improve the quality of services and the efficiency of budget spending. Therefore, we will apply and develop it.

And finally, today we have two more decisions related to strategic areas for our country.

First, the Government is starting to transform the state-owned concern Ukroboronprom into the Ukrainian Defence Industry Joint Stock Company. This is not just a change of signboard, it is a reform that has been prepared for a long time before the full-scale russian invasion. Today, we more than ever need efficiency in the defence industry. We need to introduce a corporate governance model. We need to create conditions to attract investment in the production of weapons, equipment and ammunition. The relevant changes will also allow us to strengthen cooperation with our Western partners.

We are striving to build in Ukraine one of the most powerful defence-industrial complexes in the world. This is necessary primarily for security, but it will also contribute to the economic development and recovery of the Ukrainian economy.

Besides, today the Cabinet of Ministers will make changes to the Procedure for holding auctions for the sale of special permits for subsoil use. We will make a decision to double the amount of guaranteed deposits for participation in open auctions. This would improve the efficiency of the auctions and increase the interest of real investors in participating in such auctions.

We continue to work to make Ukraine stronger and more successful. We are doing everything for our victory.

Thank you for your attention. Glory to Ukraine!