Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a meeting of the Regional Development Council said that on Wednesday evening he had a telephone conversation with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde during which the further steps of cooperation were discussed.
“I would like to say to our enemies and opponents that the program of our cooperation with the IMF will not be terminated. On the contrary, we have discussed the things to be adopted shortly,” the presidential press service quoted Poroshenko as saying on Thursday.
The president expressed the hope that the government will submit all the required bills to him by the end of the week and then will consider them as urgent ones.
According to him, in the shortest time, Ukraine should adopt a series of bills from the visa-free package and fulfill the provisions of the memorandum of cooperation with the IMF.
“I advise the government and parliament to focus on the establishment of efficient corporate administration of the biggest state enterprises of Ukraine, particularly the NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy. During the first plenary week, we should approve the legislation on privatization and the visa-free regime,” the president said.
The head of state also urged the MPs to support the European choice of Ukraine not in word but in deed.
As reported, on Wednesday Lagarde said that it was hard for the IMF to continue its cooperation with Ukraine under the Extended Fund Facility program without a substantial effort to fight corruption.
“I am concerned about Ukraine’s slow progress in improving governance and fighting corruption, and reducing the influence of vested interests in policymaking. Without a substantial new effort to invigorate governance reforms and fight corruption, it is hard to see how the IMF-supported program can continue and be successful,” she said in a statement published on Wednesday.
“Ukraine risks a return to the pattern of failed economic policies that has plagued its recent history. It is vital that Ukraine’s leadership acts now to put the country back on a promising path of reform,” Lagarde said.
On the same day the presidential press service reported that Poroshenko had a phone conversation with Lagarde during which they agreed to elaborate a roadmap of the top-priority reforms that will give a boost to the Ukraine-IMF relations.
Later, a statement on the results of the talks between Lagarde and Poroshenko was posted on the website of the IMF, in which the managing director said that their discussion was constructive.
“The president reassured me of his unwavering commitment to reforms, including improving governance and fighting corruption. We agreed on the principle of a roadmap of actions and priority measures to ensure prompt progress under the program, which will help keep Ukraine on a path toward robust and sustainable growth,” the statement says.
