*The issue of investment cooperation between Volyn Oblast and Vilnius County of the Republic of Lithuania was the main reason for the meeting in Vilnius of the head of the oblast state administration, Volodymyr Bondar, with representatives of local authorities and business. The agreement on long-term cooperation between the two parties was signed in 1998, however, the dynamics of foreign trade turnover with the Baltic partner over the past five years has been steadily declining, and last year it amounted to only 0.8% of the overall oblast indicator. Volyn exports mainly timber to Lithuania, while imports are dominated by seafood and fuel and lubricants. Joint Ukrainian-Lithuanian enterprises operate in Lutsk, Novovolynsk, Manevychi and Stara Vyzhivka, and another joint venture for the production of heating boilers is planned to be created on the basis of the open joint-stock company "Kovelsilmash". As was noted during the meeting, it is necessary to intensify contacts in the social, cultural and scientific spheres, as well as to develop an interregional model of cooperation. During the official visit, the head of the oblast state administration familiarized himself with the work of the meat processing factory of the closed joint-stock company "Biovella", the "Akropolis" shopping center, and viewed monuments of historical, archaeological and cultural heritage of Vilnius County.

*The state of spring field work, the situation on the meat market, issues of housing construction, development of mortgage relations, introduction of new approaches to overcoming homelessness and neglect of children were discussed at a republican conference call chaired by the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko. The head of the Government instructed the heads of oblast administrations to once again check the operation of markets regarding the availability of places directly for producers and the stability of their operation, and to hold negotiations with representatives of small business regarding the creation of enterprises for the production of meat products within the next 6 months. In addition, Yulia Tymoshenko instructed the Ministry of Economy, together with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, to calculate the necessary number of plants for the production of pork, beef and poultry meat for each oblast. The Government plans to create "children's towns" in each oblast that would have everything necessary for the lives of children from disadvantaged families. For this, an inventory of non-operating recreation centers and children's camps outside cities needs to be conducted in each oblast, where construction of such complexes could begin. At the first stage, for the construction of children's towns, the Government is ready to allocate at least 200 million hryvnias from the reserve fund of the Cabinet of Ministers. The first deputy head of the oblast state administration, Bohdan Shyba, participated in the meeting.

*The further implementation of the "Program for Reform and Modernization of the Agricultural Sector of Ukraine" (FARM) in Volyn was discussed during the meeting of the head of the oblast state administration, Volodymyr Bondar, with representatives of the Canadian delegation. The project has been implemented in our oblast since 2003 with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency. According to this program, an agricultural advisory service operates in the oblast, whose work should contribute to the improvement of agro-industrial production and the well-being of the rural population. In order to increase the level of knowledge and skills of agricultural producers in the oblast, the advisory service conducted a number of seminars and conferences, published brochures and leaflets, and provided 545 consultations on technological, legal, economic and other issues. With its participation, a service cooperative for the sale of potatoes is being created in the village of Haiky of Turiisk Raion, and in the village of Pidberezzia of Horokhiv Raion, work has begun on restoring the functioning of a rural kindergarten that had not operated for more than 5 years. Consultation points have also been created in Horokhiv and Volodymyr-Volynskyi raions, which provide assistance to farmers in the area of developing a farm business plan, creating and operating an agricultural cooperative, providing farms with fuel and mineral fertilizers at preferential prices, and so on.

*In accordance with the order of the head of the oblast state administration, Volodymyr Bondar, a working group has been created to verify compliance with legal requirements and the implementation of state policy in the sphere of regulation of land relations, use and protection of land in the oblast. The working group will analyze the implementation of the "Program of Land Reform in Volyn Oblast", check the land tax and rent rates applied in the territory of local councils, determine the offenses characteristic of the region in the sphere of land relations, and ascertain the effectiveness of the system of state management and control over the use and protection of land. Among other things, attention will be paid to the procedure for processing and concluding land lease agreements, determining rent, unauthorized extensions to multi-apartment buildings, calculations by tenants for the use of land shares, and what is happening on lands of the reserve, nature reserve, forest and water funds. During the inspection, personal receptions of citizens will be organized in the oblast, raion administrations and city councils, as well as a permanently operating "hotline" telephone line to which one can address questions regarding land use.

*A commission has been created in the oblast to monitor the state of implementation of financial plans and analyze the management of state enterprises and joint-stock companies in whose statutory funds there is a state share. The corresponding order was signed by the head of the oblast state administration, Volodymyr Bondar. According to the regulation, the commission must establish the causes of loss-making and take measures to ensure that state enterprises observe financial discipline. It will be checked how contributions of part of the profit to the state budget are received, how much money the leased premises bring in, and what the work of enterprises of strategic importance for the economy and security of the state is like. If necessary, the issue of terminating contracts with enterprise managers will be raised.

*From now on, every week on Sunday, at 8:10 and at 21:30 on the "Nova Volyn" channel, the television programs "Official News" and "From the House on 9 Kyivska Street" will air alternately. These two new projects have been implemented by the own efforts of the employees of the department for interaction with mass media and public relations of the apparatus of the oblast state administration. While in the first program viewers will be able to learn about the latest official announcements from the OSA, in the second, exclusive interviews will introduce well-known figures of our region. The opening of a new official representation of the oblast state administration on the Internet (www.voladm.gov.ua) is also dedicated to the 100 days of work of the new government. On the specified website, separate web pages have been created for each department of the apparatus and structural subdivision of the oblast state administration. This will improve the provision of information services to legal entities and individuals of Ukraine and increase the amount of information about the activities of subdivisions of government bodies.

Olha Khariv