OREANDA-NEWS. "We are facing challenges and we know how to respond to these challenges. But we need to do this together with our European partners, the G7 countries", said Arseniy Yatsenyuk, on Tuesday, December 16, addressing a conference of the European Policy Centre in Brussels “The priorities of the new Ukrainian government”.

He stressed the first challenge for Ukraine is the security area, "it is caused by the Russian aggression", "Second – economic, it is connected to the security problems."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that Ukraine’s government had already announced its reform plan. "Over the past nine months we have made a number of steps to stabilize the country: adopted two austerity packages, completely revised a benefit program, reduced the number of privileged social programs, cut civil servants by 10% aimed at reducing the budget expenditures. We have introduced new taxes. We have taken steps to change the regulatory policy, reduced the number of regulatory bodies and their powers. "

Moreover, he explained that the National Guard of Ukraine had been formed ground-up, "Our expenses for the army are enormous - about UAH 95 million per day. It is a serious burden for the State Budget. "

The Prime Minister added that the Government of Ukraine appreciates the support of the international community. He noted that the total amount of assistance received by Ukraine from the IMF, the World Bank, the G7 worth approximately USD 9 billion, "We have raised about USD 9 billion and paid off to our borrowers USD 14 billion this year."

According to him, the Government of Ukraine expects minus 7% of GDP, "Ukraine has lost up to 20% of the economy - through the Russian aggression in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk that affected greatly the state of the Ukrainian economy. Industrial production fell by 10%. But despite that, this year we have collected by 5% more in taxes and fees versus 2013".

"We are facing challenges and we know how to respond to these challenges. But we need to do this together with our European partners, the G7 countries, to pass through a very difficult 2015 and achieve certain growth and stability in 2016", said Arseniy Yatsenyuk.