Ukrainian President: our Goal is a Functioning Democracy and European Standards

KYIV, Ukraine, May 31, 2011 -

The current government policy in Ukraine is to carry out the
long overdue reforms, said Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych during the
17th Central and Eastern European Summit in Warsaw, Poland. "Ukrainian
reforms are to establish a functioning democracy and introduce the European
standards in all areas of life, with no exception" - stressed the Ukrainian
Leader in his address to heads of Central and European countries and the
press, who attended the summit.

This year's Summit was hosted by the President of Poland
Bronislaw Komorowski and attended by the Presidents and high officials of 19
central and Eastern European countries. The US President, Barack Obama also
attended the event. The Summit agenda included the discussion of common
democracy experience and promotion of democratic values.

In his summit address President Yanukovych noted, that
Ukrainian government is focused on implementing reforms and pays special
attention to economic transformation.

Last year the Ukrainian leadership has identified and started
implementing the reforms in such key areas as tax, administration,
anti-corruption and pension. The administrative reform reduced the number of
public servants by reorganizing the ministries and decreasing their number by
a third. Shortly afterwards, the Law on Principles of Prevention and
Combating Corruption in Ukraine was adopted and Ukraine has introduced the
Law on Access to Public Information.

Also, Ukraine progresses on the Association agreement and the
issue of the free trade zone with the EU, and is likely to complete EC
roadmap project in September. It's been reported that 90 percent of positions
in the Free Trade Agreement had been agreed upon.

The idea to gather the Central European Heads of State for
regular informal meetings was born in 1993 during the European Festival in
the Austrian city of Salzburg, which was attended by the Presidents of
Austria, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and a number of leading
European politicians.

In 1999, Ukraine and its President were hosting the Summit in
Lviv, welcoming Presidents of Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Romania,
Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. In 2010, the meeting scheduled for
May was cancelled due to the tragic death of President Lech Kaczynski of
Poland.

President Yanukovych invited all participants for the next
summit, which will take place in May 2012 in Ukraine.

For more information, contact Maryna Khorunzha +380443324784
news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine