Yushchenko met with business executives to discuss import administration

President Victor Yushchenko held discussion with business executives on import administration, the President's press office reported.

As the President told at the beginning of the meeting, a series of issues in regulatory, fiscal and customs politics need to be urgently settled. The business has been in the shadow for ten years, which situation is difficult to change. As he reminded, the level of shadow economy remains high and amounts to 45 - 47 percent and in some branches, particularly, on the automobile market, it reaches 52 percent.

Among other topical issues, which are to be solved, the President of Ukraine cited staging land auctions, with a view of simplifying the procedure of land allotment, improving and unification of standards, implementing at least 5 - 6 social reforms for decreasing social taxes and reforming the customs politics. In this context, the President said that since January 2006 a new fiscal policy will be drafted, which will aim at least twofold decreasing the social tax.

The Head of State instructed the Industrial Policies Ministry, the Economics Ministry and the State Customs Service to establish a working group of experts and officials for drawing out a new wording of the Customs Code of Ukraine and customs tariffs. President Yushchenko also charged the Economics Ministry to form a working group on regulation of the automobile market of Ukraine.

The deliberations were attended by Economics Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Industrial Policies Minister Vladimir Shandra, Chairman of the State Customs Service Oleksandr Yehorov, Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Administration Borys Horbanskyi, presidential adviser Ksenia Liapina, representatives of the International Chamber of Commerce, the All-Ukrainian Dealer Association, the Ferrous Metallurgy Association and CEOs from the Adidas Ukraine, BLITS-Inform, the closed-type joint-stock company CHUMAK, the company ZERNO ("Grain"), the closed-type joint-stock company "Ukrainian Trade - Industrial Corporation", the public joint-stock company YuvelirServis ("Jewellery Service"), Nestle Ukraine, INCOM, ELDORADO corporations and others, Cabinet's press office reported.