OREANDA-NEWS. January 14, 2011. President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych met with Chairmen of Regional Administrations and candidates for the office of District Administration Chairmen.

During the meeting, the President outlined the main tasks facing the government in the near future. Viktor Yanukovych stressed that all efforts should be aimed at modernizing the country and increasing its competitiveness.

For this purpose, Viktor Yanukovych stressed, a series of important reforms have been started. "Successful regional development and sustainable social-economic development in general is in the core of these reforms," he said.

The President noted that the administrative reform has started. It is important to conduct a deep and systemic reform of local government, he said.

Referring to the question of reducing the bureaucratic machinery, which was held in the framework of the administrative reform, Viktor Yanukovych noted that part of the saved costs must be aimed at improving the efficiency of civil servants.

"I would like to tell you that if we are reducing the Government Staff by 50%, at least 50% of the saved money must be aimed at increasing wages. This means improving motivation, fighting corruption and involvement of high-level professionals," he said.

He stressed that public administration reform and next year’s budget policy are closely related.

The President noted that the 2011 Budget had been formed based on the new Tax Code, the main task of which is to create conditions for sustainable growth and improvement of social standards.

"This is the budget of reforms and development. It aims to improve all the areas of life of our country," Viktor Yanukovych said, adding social costs are the priority.

"I demand strict provision of the planned increase in subsistence and minimum wages," he said.

The President also emphasized the importance of early transition to program-targeted approach in the use of public funds.

"42 billion UAH will be allocated by this year’s budget for development of the regions and regional projects,” Viktor Yanukovych said.

"I will demand closer coordination between central and local governments and higher responsibility of the officials," he said.

Viktor Yanukovych expressed confidence that 2011 will be a challenging year, but it will lay the foundation of the country’s development for many years to come.

"I believe that our systematic approach to our work, our determination in many issues and certainty about what we are doing will yield positive result. And we will continue the development of our country, our regions. The country will become stronger and people will feel it. This means that we will be doing what the society expects us to today," he said.