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according to newly appointed deputy head of the presidential administration Oleksiy Honcharuk. "We are now really starting to think about a new three- four-year programme with the IMF, so that we can launch it at the end of the year if the necessary conditions for this appear," Honcharuk said in an interview with the NV.Business online outlet. "We will try to lay structural reforms, which over the years will lead the country to a qualitatively new level." In late May, the IMF's mission Ron van Roden told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the Fund is ready to discuss further cooperation with Ukraine after the nation's snap parliamentary elections scheduled for July. "We do not see obstacles to cooperation. After the parliamentary elections, after the government is formed, we are ready to come to Kyiv immediately and continue negotiations on the way to provide our support," Zelenskiy's media office quoted Ron van Roden as saying in Kyiv. The IMF did not immediately comment a meeting with Zelenskiy The IMF representatives have demonstrated "willingness" to continue the discussion on further cooperation with Ukraine once a new Ukrainian government is formed after the parliamentary elections. Before that, there will be ongoing consultations on the formation of a new reform agenda, the presidential media office said in a statement the same day. In 2018, the Fund approved a 14-month $3.9bn Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Ukraine. The programme replaced a $17.5bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreed with Kyiv in 2015. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expects to obtain from the IMF two tranches of $1.3bn each by the end of 2019. Meanwhile, Zelenskiy said that cooperation with the multinational lender "is being continued". The IMF has always been a reliable partner of Ukraine in times when we need support, and Ukraine, for its part, will also remain a partner in fulfilling its obligations," he added. "Unfortunately, we are currently observing a delay in adopting the reformist draft laws long- awaited by the citizens, business and financial community. I am hopeful that the parliament of the new convocation will make up for this and provide a basis for receiving the next tranche from the Fund," Zelenskiy said. He also underlined that several factors had influenced the decision to dissolve the nation' parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. "I believe this Verkhovna Rada has lost the ability to make responsible decisions," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has submitted a motion to the nation's parliament, to approve the dismissal of Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, according to deputy presidential chief of staff Ruslan Riaboshapka. "There is a legal position that is connected with the fact that despite changes in the law on the prosecutor’s office that the prosecutor general should not have a degree in law, other provisions of the law on the prosecutor's office say that only be a person with a degree in law could work as a prosecutor at the Prosecutor General's Office," Interfax quoted Riaboshapka as saying on June 11. He added that a prosecutor performs procedural functions and that he or she must have both a degree in law and relevant experience in the field of law. Lutsenko, appointed in 2016, has no legal training and has been widely criticised by both local reformers and Western governments for being entirely ineffectual. However, the former President Petro Poroshenko and his circle are unwilling to loosen their grip on the key law enforcement institution, or replace Lutsenko with a new and untainted figure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed former economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius as a member of the supervisory board at state defence conglomerate Ukroboronprom. Zelenskiy's special decree was inked on June 12. The document comes into force on the day of its publication. Currently, rector of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Mykhailo Zgurovsky
20 UKRAINE Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com