Although it is still not clear which of the colors — white (BYuT) or blue (Party of Regions) — will join the coalition palette, the cabinet has already begun to shrink. After the prime minister, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Anatoliy Kinakh is the second member of the government to announce his intention to serve in parliament. Kinakh emphasized that the task of all sound-minded political forces now in parliament is to create a viable parliamentary majority and an effective cabinet that will work to carry out the president’s program. In his view, the concerted efforts of the newly-elected parliament and an effective mechanism of interaction between the executive and legislative branches should make it possible to pass strategic decisions in a timely manner, which would be aimed at the sustained development of state and society.
Kinakh warned about a likely concentration of political and economic risks. The growth of industrial output almost dropped to zero in January-April. In January-March, for the first time in the past few years, there was a $1.7-billion negative foreign-trade balance. As a result of increased fuel prices, which bring up prices and tariffs on the consumer market, coupled with the state’s inability to create a viable system for safeguarding national producers and the absence of real structural changes, this country’s industry is beginning to show signs of socioeconomic instability.
The national security chief believes that it is extremely important to properly assess and forecast the socioeconomic aspects of economic development in order to balance the 2006 budget and draft the budget resolution for 2007. This requires focusing on the strategy of Ukraine’s investment-and- innovation development, approving the energy balance sheet, boosting cooperation with the main suppliers of energy resources, including Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, improving fuel and energy cooperation with Russia, more actively introducing energy-saving technologies and alternative fuels, and making more effective use of all available energy resources.
Kinakh also emphasizes the need to improve the system of land relations, in particular creating a modern land market in Ukraine and combating fraud in land relations. These tasks should be placed above current political expediency, Kinakh’s press service reports.
Resolving these fundamental problems requires a different kind of cooperation between the president and the Verkhovna Rada, one that would be based on constructive dialogue and increased responsibility for economic results. Kinakh also summed up the security council’s performance, noting that the president has issued a number of crucial decrees on the basis of the council’s decisions.
These decrees deal with improving the investment climate, protecting property rights, formulating more effective governmental policies to normalize land relations, effective land management and protection, food security, the situation on the oil and oil product market, and the country’s innovation-oriented scientific and technological development. Work has been completed on the National Security Strategy. This document takes into maximum account the ongoing changes in the world and demands a prompt and adequate reaction to the latest challenges and threats.
