Denys Uliutin, First Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine, welcomed the partners, noting that the European Union is a reliable partner of Ukraine in the implementation of reforms.

“Many things happened. In particular, the Ministry of Finance has finalized the Public Finance Management System Strategy for 2021–2025, the draft of which has already been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,” said Denys Uliutin. “This document is a prerequisite for the changes and further reform of the public governance system we are in need of.  The Ministry had also finalized the Digital Strategy for 2021–2025, which has already been reviewed by the Government. We hope that both documents will be adopted by the end of the year”.

According to him, another priority is the implementation of medium-term budget planning and the development of an IT system of budget planning with the support of the EU4PFM project.

Xavier Camus, Head of Operations Section 1 “Good Governance and Rule of Law” of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, noted that the international partners closely monitor the new personnel decisions in Ukraine: “We observe the personnel changes that have taken place in the government agencies in charge of the public finance management. Still, as before, we are ready for fruitful cooperation with our Ukrainian colleagues. In addition, we are discussing the possibility to extend EU4PFM in Ukraine to have enough time to implement all planned activities”.

“The approval of the IT strategy, which provides for the IT architecture of the State Customs Service, is an important condition for receiving effective support from the European partners,” said Vytenis Ališauskas, International Key Expert on Customs for EU4PFM.

“It is important to get the State Customs Service’s decision on IT architecture by the end of December 2021. This will allow us to discuss and agree on a roadmap of our joint actions as soon as possible. The absence of such a joint plan now leads to duplication: one IT solution has been simultaneously developed by us, another donor project, and employees of the State Customs Service. These are the costs from both the Ukrainian budget and donors,” noted the expert.

 “The roadmap should define the responsibilities of the State Customs Service and other partners in developing IT solutions to avoid duplication. That is why it is so important to discuss it together,” believes Vytenis Ališauskas.

In his speech, Vadym Melnyk, Director of the Bureau of Economic Security and a new member of the Steering Committee, outlined the priorities and challenges in establishing the institution, thanking the EU4PFM project for its support, assistance, and working together from the first day of the Bureau’s launch.

“The Bureau’s role in ensuring the economic security of the State is to prevent economic offenses rather than to respond to the consequences, as well as to reduce the pressure on business, improve the business climate, minimize business risks, increase the level of the national economy de-shadowing and promote legal business,” said Vadym Melnyk.

He emphasized that the Bureau is a central executive body having the law enforcement function. “This is an analytical body. It should detect and stop criminal practices in all fields of the economy,” noted Vadym Melnyk. He also stressed that the Bureau plans to start its work on 25 November this year.

Julda Kielyte, Member of the Support Group for Ukraine and Team Leader for Social-Economic and Fiscal Reforms, Yevhen Oleinikov, Acting Chairman of the State Tax Service, Nataliia Kalinichenko and Mykhailo Titarchuk, Deputy Chairs of the State Tax Service, and Deputy Chairs of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Vladyslav Suvorov and Oleh Nikolaichuk also took part in the meeting and exchanged their views on the future action plans.

The participants of the Steering Committee meeting agreed that today’s priority is to complete the procurement process for IT solutions and their rapid and high-quality implementation. After all, the pandemic has proved that the government agencies’ digitalization is no longer a prospect for the future, but a necessity of the present.

The Steering Committee plans to meet again at the beginning of 2022 to discuss the key results of work in 2021 and update the current working plans.