President Viktor Yanukovych held a meeting of the Kherson Regional Committee on Economic Reforms, presidential press office informed.

Speaking to the participants, the President of Ukraine expressed his belief that our country will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its independence with positive results. 

"New times have come. I have said this many times and I want to repeat it in Kherson – the 20th anniversary of independence Ukraine will celebrate in political stability and with economic growth," Viktor Yanukovych said.

"The crisis showed that Ukraine had very weak economy and public administration, who were not able to timely respond to this difficult situation, and protect the country. Why did it happen? Because through all the years of independence the country has remained unreformed," Viktor Yanukovych said. 

That is why, he said, in 2010 the current government has introduced comprehensive reforms in all areas. "Last year we have started the reforms on many directions at once. We announced their beginning in May. Overall, 21 directions of reforms will be introduced this year," he said. 

"We will be solving these issues systematically, in order to bring order in the country and turn Ukraine into a modern state, meeting the European and global standards. This is our goal," he said. 

According to Viktor Yanukovych, the introduced reforms will promote transparency in the services market, bringing the economy out of shadows, deregulation, etc. "Certainly, it will be attractive for both investors and domestic business," the President said. 

At the same time, he expressed the belief that local authorities must solve the issues, which can be addressed at the local level, and those requiring central government regulation (such as land reform) must be addressed at the state level through adoption of laws, regulations, etc.

One of the most important reforms the President called the judiciary reform. He expressed confidence that the government must ensure noninterference in the judicial proceedings and create conditions for the courts to be independent. 

Speaking about the financial state of the country, President Yanukovych said that the situation is difficult due to heavy burden on the budget. The spending on preparations for the finals of Euro 2012, he said, will be about 15 billion UAH this year. Last year, the figure was about 10 billion UAH. 

In addition, he said, every month we repay about 8 billion UAH of debt. 

In this context, Viktor Yanukovych stressed that the plan of reforms should be realistic. "When we talk about the investment resources of the state, we must clearly understand our real capabilities," he said, adding that additional private investment resources are needed. 

"The state should be an effective manager and an effective owner. We must think hard to make the regions self-sufficient, so that they were developing in harmony with the whole country," Viktor Yanukovych said. 

Speaking about the development of Kherson region, the President said: "We must be very serious about all the areas of economic complex development. We have now laid new prospects for shipbuilding in the Tax Code. We should make full use out this possibility and consider shipbuilding as one of the priorities of the Kherson region economy.” 

Viktor Yanukovych also emphasized the importance of tourism development in the region, including the construction of recreational facilities. 

"We can really make Kherson region a prosperous land. We know how to do it," he said. 

"2010 has convinced us that political stability and effective use of all available government resources can provide positive results. 2011 will not be easier. 2012 will be the year, when we begin to feel the changes. I believe that in the future they will be more tangible, more positive. And in order to achieve that, this year we must be patient, and most importantly – work hard," he said. 

Summing up his speech, President Yanukovych re-emphasized the need to plan the development of Ukraine as a whole and Kherson region in particular, based on the real situation and opportunities, stressing the need for joint, coordinated action. 

In this context, Viktor Yanukovych instructed the leadership of the region to prepare a concrete program of regional development. According to the President, new mechanisms will be created, and existing ones will be actively involved, so that investments started to flow to Kherson region. 

"Regional Development Strategy should be a combination of all-national strategy and initiatives of regional policy," the President summed up.

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