President condoles with Guatemalan people

President holds phone talks with IMF Managing Director

In addition, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that next week his advisor will arrive in Ukraine to assess the economic situation in the country.

Press conference of the President of Ukraine

Accreditation of media representatives is held by The Department of Communications from June 1, 10.00, until June 3, 17.00,

Media representatives are invited to "The Ukrainian House" at 10.00 for passing security check-up.

The event will be broadcast live by National Television Company of Ukraine TV.

President grieves over death of Andrey Voznesensky

Meeting with heroic children and youth

On Children's Day President attends opening of sports ground in ‘Lyubystok’ orphanage

In the President’s presence at the newly opened sports ground kids began final match of mini-football championship among the orphanages and boarding schools of Kyiv region.

Viktor Yanukovych presented the teams with gifts and made the symbolic kick-off.

Teams from 13 boarding schools and 16 orphanages participated in Kyiv region championship. The finals were held among the teams from Brovary, Vyshgorod, Vasylkivskyi and Borodyanskyi districts. The winner teams will have an opportunity to go for recreation to the International Children's Center "Artek".

Greeting those present, Viktor Yanukovych said that the new sports ground will help future athletes develop their skills. "I wish that you will grow up healthy and educated, will always be in a good mood and have inspiration to play sports and study well. I wish that you will have a decent future and every one of you will choose your own path in life," said the President. He also added that in order to achieve their goals, children will definitely need to do their best.

Viktor Yanukovych stressed the importance of solving issues related to orphans’ needs. The Head of State, in particular, voiced his decision to open the doors of the Government Clinical Hospital ‘Feofaniya’ for this category of children.

Viktor Yanukovych also told the journalists that in the nearest future a new system of regular health survey of children, enrolled in orphanages and boarding schools, will be launched in Ukraine. "We will create a system that will allow annual examination and treatment of these children," he said.

According to the President, a special sports school for talented children will be created.

"I will personally supervise state care of orphans," emphasized Viktor Yanukovych, adding that the government will exert every effort so that every child had an opportunity to get a profession, conditions for learning and so on.

"This systematic approach foresees participation of regional and local governments’ leadership and philanthropists. We will be inviting people who are willing to invest in our children's future, in development of this infrastructure, to create charitable funds," said Viktor Yanukovych.

He stressed that relevant program will be developed soon. "And it will be implemented in our country," concluded the President.

President holds meeting of Working Group on Judiciary Reform

Opening the meeting President Yanukovych said that the draft bill is aimed at making judiciary more open to people and ensuring that it is more professional and defends human rights better.

From his part, Minister Lavrynovych said that at last the long work on preparation of the bill is complete. "Today we are to consider results of our common work on the new Law on Judiciary of Ukraine, which also contains a package of alterations to other laws. In particular, these are alterations to all four procedural codes, the laws “On the High Council of Justice”, “On Remuneration of Labor” and several others that are relevant to the new law on judiciary," he said.

Speaking about main tasks and objectives of this reform, Oleksandr Lavrynovych said that it must improve access of citizens to the judiciary. According to him, this could be achieved without altering the system of first instance courts, which according to procedural code, have the authority to consider cases of different jurisdiction. “These are cases, primarily in the field of administrative justice, that until now were considered only in specialized district courts," he said.

"Our suggestions, we present today, are to be reflected in all procedural codes and in the law itself. They apply to the time in which complaints are to be considered, reducing it to 30 days, and also provide abandoning the practice, when cases were submitted for a new trial in a first instance court, if the appellate court canceled the decision. Similarly, we propose banning re-cassation in Ukraine. Thus, we make substantial steps to ensure that judicial decisions are adopted within reasonable time and are constant," said Minister Lavrynovych.

"We had a long debate about what the judicial system should be like and our final decision was a compromise that allows significant improvement of the system without major changes in the system of first instance or appellate courts.

The changes modify only the system of third instance courts and by creating one high specialized court, which would consider civil and criminal cases as a cassation court, we make the whole system equal – the first instance, appellate level and High Cessation Court all work in all jurisdictions. At the same time, the Supreme Court, as judicial body of the highest authority, has all the powers to ensure unity of judicial practice," said Oleksandr Lavrynovych.