On Monday, Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, met Wolf Dietrich Heim, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Austrian Republic to Ukraine. As the official visit of the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Austrian Republic takes place on 16-17 September, the Parties discussed the state of bilateral relations and the issues to be raised during the meeting in Vienna.
According to W.Heim,
during the coming meeting, the Austrian Party will focus on the economic
cooperation between the countries. A great number of Austrian companies are
working in Ukraine,
some of them for as long as twenty years. V.Lytvyn stressed that Austria
occupied the fifth place among the foreign countries by the volume of investments.
He expects that two main impediments for the investors, red tape and
corruption, will be overcome in the nearest time. "In a month or month and a half, the
tax system will be modified, making this sector transparent," the Head of the Parliament stated.
He declared that Ukraine
was interested in the inflow of the European capital.
"Ukraine faces many challenges. It is most important to strengthen democracy and work upon the European strategy," V.Lytvyn stated. The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine believes that Ukraine should develop on the principles of the European community. He attached great importance to the elections to the local authority bodies scheduled for 31 October. Ukrainian politicians and public officials should learn the Austrian experience in the local self-government development and election legislation.
According to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Austrian Republic to Ukraine, both political circles and mass media of Austria are interested in the official visit of the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada. The Austrian MPs want to know about the development of parliamentarism in Ukraine, while the journalists are interested in the preparation of Ukraine for EURO 2012 Football Championship. V.Lytvyn underscored the willingness of Ukraine to collaborate with Austria in the preparation for EURO 2012. He supposes that common work will benefit the relations between the countries.