President hopes Parliament would approve pension reform during this session

President Viktor Yanukovych hopes the Parliament would approve pension reform by the end of the current session, he said at today’s joint Ukrainian-Armenian business forum, recalling that the relevant bill has already passed its first reading. "This is a very difficult question, but no matter how long it is protracted, it will never be easy to resolve from the political point of view. The sooner we start and walk this painful path, the earlier our people start living better. We are sure of this," he said. 

Viktor Yanukovych stressed that the existing transfer-based pension system has exhausted itself and makes it impossible to raise pensions to a new level. "So we need the three-level system, we need pension reform," he said. He expressed confidence that the introduction of such a system would allow raising the minimum pension a few times.