President Victor Yushchenko held a weekly meeting with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Verkhovna Rada Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Other participants of the meeting were NSDC Secretary Raisa Bohatyryova, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Petro Krupko, BYut and OU-PSD Factions’ leaders Ivan Kyrylenko and Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, President’s Secretariat Chief of Staff Viktor Baloha and his First Deputy Oleksandr Shlapak.
During the meeting parties discussed situation with VAT rebates and discontinuing using promissory notes for rebating VAT to goods importers. Speaking about the problem with promissory notes President noted that while he supports their discontinuance, there are no unambiguous legal grounds for that. Also a ground-up analysis of such step’s consequences for the entire economy would be needed.
The participants also discussed Government’s activity regarding privatization; particularly it’s compliance with the decision adopted by NSDC on February 15, 2008 on protection of national interests and national security in privatization field. The decision required that strategic value enterprises were not made subject to privatization before programs of development of corresponding branches were adopted. Here Victor Yushchenko stressed urgency of bringing Government issued privatization legislative acts in compliance with the abovementioned decision of National Security and Defense Council. He also urged the Cabinet to work out a clear-cut schedule of privatization.
