Dear friends!
After winning fair and democratic elections, a new team came to power in Ukraine, a new professional government was formed, which is called upon to restore order in the state.
The main task for the successful development of the national economy is the fight against corruption, which, like metastases, has affected our entire society – from the district passport office to the central executive power, from the market stall to transnational corporations. One of the main elements of the fight against corruption is the fight against smuggling, which causes great losses to our country. Last week we announced the start of the government program to counter smuggling "Smuggling – Stop!".
However, due to a misunderstanding of the situation, the victims of this program have become not the leaders of smuggling operations, but ordinary representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. Their goods lie uncustoms-cleared in warehouses, and the business suffers losses. This concerns, in particular, Odesa, some regions of Western Ukraine, etc. However, I assure you that the situation in which, as a result of government reforms, an honest entrepreneur suffers while numerous inspectors and real smugglers continue to enrich themselves, will not happen again. We will make customs and officials honest. Every Ukrainian customs officer in the moral sense must become a domestic "Vereshchagin" from "White Sun of the Desert," who does not compromise with his own conscience.
The government knows about the problems of importers of consumer goods and is working on solving them. We have embarked on an irreversible path of fighting corruption and smuggling. We will not turn off this path. At the same time, I assure you, we will certainly find a way out that would guarantee the interests of the state on the one hand and satisfy small and medium-sized businesses working with export-import of goods and services – on the other. We will find this way out together with you. Therefore, I invite you to a dialogue. Today we are opening PUBLIC ACCREDITATION at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. You can call or write to the email address (phone: 8-044-256-77-99; taranch@kmu.gov.ua from 16.00 on February 21 to 19.00 on February 24, 2005) and register to participate in the meeting with the Prime Minister, which will take place this Friday, February 25, at the Cabinet of Ministers. If you have not only complaints but also proposals for optimizing the government's work in the direction of countering smuggling, I invite you to this meeting. (You will be informed of the exact time of the meeting additionally).
I hope that this dialogue will become the beginning of a civilized conversation between business and government. The new government seeks to fundamentally change these relations. We want to help, not hinder you. All over the world, small and medium-sized businesses are the foundation of civil society, and we must use world experience.