IntroductionIt is not so simple to describe Ukraine in a few words -- the land so generously endowed by the nature and at the same time suffering for years from the unmerciful history. Placed in the center of Europe the country was divided between empires for centuries and isolated from main European processes. First called Christian Democratic Cossack Republic, Ukraine for centuries was kept down by various oppressors, suffered from totalitarian regime. Having exceptionally fertile arable lands the former "bread basket of Europe" has had to import agricultural products in recent years. Having at her disposal gifted scientists and up-to-date technologies, Ukraine has been practically deprived of the opportunity to enter the world market with her own competitive products. This theme can be developed more and more. Ukraine is a country of great paradoxes and at the same time of inexhaustible potential.
Having revived after the centuries of sufferings, national humiliation, repressions, famine and wars, Ukraine has inherited from the USSR nothing but problems. She faces much more complicated tasks than her Central European neighbours, having in mind not only reforms. She needed to build a state with all its attributes, to create in fact her own economy oriented towards the possibilities and resources of Ukraine, to establish the pluralistic democratic state system in the country reigned until recently by the totalitarian regime. Besides, it needed to be recognized by the world community as an independent sovereign state.
Ukraine possesses an important place and takes an active part in the European and global geopolitical structures. Ukraine has joined influential international financial and economic institutions. She closely cooperates with the European Union, the Western European Union, other international and regional organizations, takes an active part in the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the UN. Ukraine has joined the NATO "Partnership for Peace" Program. Ukraine is building a democratic state in accordance with high international standards as for observance of human rights and rights of national minorities in particular.
Only after the disintegration of the USSR did Ukraine gain the opportunity to create its own independent state. After the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR (then the Parliament) declared state independence in July, 1990, the Act on Ukraine's Independence was adopted on August, 24, 1991, which is observed as the Independence Day. The creation of the sovereign state was finalized during the All-Ukraine Referendum on December, 1, 1991, when the absolute majority (91 percent) of the country's citizens supported the Act on Independence.
The world community accepted the will of Ukraine's people with understanding. Today 154 countries recognize Ukraine as an independent state and diplomatic relations have been already established with about 140 ones.
The first parliamentary elections since independence took place in 1994, reaffirming once again the aspiration of the new state to follow the principles of democracy. Despite a certain polarization in society at that time, 393 deputies were elected to parliament during the first three rounds of the elections.
A very important fact is that the process of reforms in Ukraine is proceeding in a peaceful way. Due to a balanced state policy based on the Law On Ethnic Minorities in Ukraine, the country has managed to avoid ethnic conflicts and achieve interethnic concord.
The process of democratization has been accompanied by the creation of new political parties and movements, of which there are about 40 today. The largest of them are the People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh), the Communist Party, socialist Party, Peasants' Party, Democratic Party, Republican Party and the Liberal Party.
In its international activities Ukraine follows the universally recognized and accepted rules and standards of international law, and acknowledges the priority of human values. Openness and predictability are among the main principles of this policy which also renounces double standards and adheres to the rules of conduct in international relations.
Wishing to live in peace with all countries, and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbors, Ukraine has been sustaining this policy with definite actions. She was the first among the former republics of the USSR to declare her intention of becoming a non-nuclear state. The removal of all the tactical nuclear missiles it had inherited from the Soviet Union was the first step on the way to a non-nuclear status. Having ratified the START-1 Treaty, Ukraine confirmed her commitment to nuclear disarmament, as exemplified by the Trilateral Statement by the Presidents of Ukraine, the USA and Russia, signed in Moscow on January 14, 1994. Having received adequate assurances of its national security form all nuclear states, commitments of significant assistance in elimination of its nuclear arsenal, as well as commitments of Russia to provide Ukraine compensation for nuclear weapons it had inherited from the former Soviet Union, our country has acceded to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on the 5th of December, 1994.
Ukraine takes an active part in the work of the United Nations and other international organizations. As a European nation, is interested in the stability and security of a new Europe, seeking a continued integration into its structures.
The brunt of supporting a huge element of the Soviet armed forces and military industries, the Chornobyl disaster, and the ruptured economic ties following the demise of the USSR have left a deep mark on Ukraine's economy. So far all of the government's measures to check the decline in production have failed, being compounded by the overwhelming shortages in energy resources. The price of oil, in particular, increased 5,000 times during the past two years and a half.
Nevertheless Ukraine is set on keeping to the road of reform. In his address to the parliament on October, 11, 1994, President Leonid Kuchma set forth a radical program designed to liberalize the economy, quicken the pace of privatization, promote enterpreneurship and effect financial reform. Extensive attraction of foreign investments could considerably improve the economic situation. According to the government's estimates, the present requirements in investments amount to over US $24 billion.
Although the country is living through hard times, its orientation toward reform has not changed. It is along this course that Ukraine hopes to achieve prosperity and well-being for its citizens.
Basic facts about Ukraine
Land area: 603,700 sq.km. Population (1996): Estimated population 51,3 mln, Population density 86 persons per sq.km, Population distribution (%): Rural 32 Urban 68 Males 46 Females 54 Ukrainians 72,1 Russians 22,0 other 5,9 Birth rate 9,6 on 1000 prs Death rate 15,4 on 1000prs Adult literacy rate (%) 99 Human Development
Index Rank (HDR, 1994)45\173 National Economy
Economic performance Indicators (% annual change): 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Real GDP -11,9 -17,0 -14,2 -25,0 -11,8 Industrial production -4,8 -6,4 -8.0 -27,8 -11,5 Agricultural production -13,2 -8,2 1,5 -17,0 -4,0 Employment -1,7 -2,0 -2,3 n.a. 0,16 Capital investment -7,1 -36,9 -10,3 n.a. 2,4 Inflation-CPI
(monthly average)9,4 17,9 49,1 15,7
GDP per capita (1993, PPP-based, in US $) 1,910
Budget expenditures 1994 1994 as % of GDP 85,9 Consumer subsidies 10,3 13,5 Producer subsidies 17,6 20,6 Education and Health 14,4 - Defense 3,5 4,2 Chernobyl 13,7 4,9 Pension Fund Outlays 23,0 19,9 People
Population: 51,3 (January 1, 1996).
Urban population: 35,619,000 (68%).
Male: 46%.
Female: 54%.
Under-age population: 11,202,000 (21,5%).
Life expectancy: 65 years for men, 75 years for women (1992).
Ethnic groups: Ukrainian 75%, Russian 22%, Jewish 1%, other 4%.
Total number of ethnic groups: over 110.
Religions: Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic (Uniates), Protestant, Jewish, Muslim.
Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish.
Note: The ethnic balance has remained fairly stable. Since the net migration rate is low and the birthrate among Ukrainians and Russians is about the same, shifts in ethnic composition have been insignificant. Ethnic distribution, however, varies: predominantly Ukrainian in Easter Ukraine, while the rest of the country is more ethnically diverse. According to the 1989 census, 6,8 million Ukrainians live in the countries of the former USSR (4,4 million in Russia, 900,000 in Kazakhstan, 600,000 in Moldova, 290,000 in Belarus, 150,000 in Uzbekistan, 100,000 in Kirgyzstan). Some 5 million Ukrainians live in the countries of Europe, North and south America and Australia. The largest Ukrainian communities are in Canada, the US, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Geography
Total area: 603,700 sq. km.
Land boundaries: 4,558 km total; Belarus 891 km; Czech Republic and Slovakia 90 km; Hungary 103 km; Moldova 939 km; Poland 428 km; Romania 286 km; Russia 1,789 km.
Coastline: 9,789 km.
Climate: temperature continental; subtropical only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southwest; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold further inland; summers are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south.
Terrain: mostly fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains only in the west (Carpathian Mountains) and along the southern coastline of Crimea.
Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber.
Land use: 56% arable land, 12% meadows and pastures.
Government
Type: Republic.
Capital: Kyiv (Kiev).
Administrative division: 24 regions (oblasts - usually of the same name as their administrative centers) and one autonomous republic: Cherkassy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Autonomous Republic of Crimea (capital - Simferopol), Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnitsky, Kiev, Kirovograd, Luhansk, Lviv, Mikolaiv, Odessa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Transcorpathian (Uzhgorod), Vinnitsa, Volyn (Lutsk), Zaporizhia, Zhitomir.
Largest cities: Kiev (2,6 mln), Kharkiv (1,6 mln), Dnipropetrovsk (1,2 mln), Donetsk (1,1 mln), Odessa (1,1 mln).
Note: The President of Ukraine is the Chief Executive elected by universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot for the term of five years and not more than for two successive terms. The legislative body of state power the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) is a unicameral parliament (450 deputies elected for a term of four years).
National Emblem: The national emblem of Ukraine is a golden Tryzub(trident) on a blue shield.
National Flag - was adopted January 28,1192 is a rectangular cloth with two horisontal stripes of equal width, the upper colored blue and the lower golden yellow.
The National Anthem has been perfomed since January 1992 (misic by M.M.Vrebytsky).
National Holiday: Inependence Day is celebrated on August 24.
The human legacy of Chernobyl
The April 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Atomic power station was the world's worst recorded nuclear accident, and the gravest cataclysm for Ukraine since World War II. Radiation contamination rendered nearly 100 settlements uninhabitable and affected more than 2000 settlements in 78 districts and in 12 regions. Vast territories, including the immediate 30-km zone around the reactor, were rendered unusable for agricultural, forestry or recreational use for generations. People evacuated from the zones of greatest contamination, including the entire population of the city of Pripiat, lost their dwellings, jobs, and personal property; along with their established economic and community ties. Data from the Ministry of Chernobyl reveal little clear-cut evidence of health effects directly linked to the Chernobyl disaster. However, in areas that were highly contaminated, it is possible to discern negative statistical trends in certain key socio-demographic indicators.
For example, in the regions hit hardest by Chernobyl's fallout, birth rates declined observably, as 1988 birth rates constituted only 30% of the 1986 level. This decline was accompanied by an acceleration of other potentially negative phenomena: the recorded incidence of spontaneous abortion, birth defects and prenatal mortality doubled; infant mortality rates rose by a factor of 1.5 times; and, there were increases in the reported incidence of malignant tumors and endocrine system pathologies in females. According to WHO data, Ukrainian children suffer the heights rate of congenital anomalies among the countries of the FSU. The incidence of carcinomas in children after the accident is 6.5 to 10 times higher than in the period preceding it, while 60% are reported to suffer from some degree of thyroid modular hyperplasia, particularly in highly irradiated areas of the country.
According to 1995 statistics, the state is paying compensation benefits to approximately 1.5 million persons as a result of the Chernobyl accident. Over 662,000 of the recipients are children.
Chronology of main historical events
Threshold of 8-9th cent. Formation of Kyiv Rus, a powerful medieval state unifying eastern Slavic nations in the expanses from the Baltic's to the Black Sea, From the Volga to Tisza rivers. 988-989 Christening of Kyiv Rus. the 1130s Feudal fragmentation of the Kyivan state. 1237-1241 Invasion of Batu-Khan's horde, destruction of Kyiv. 13-14th cent Foundation of the Helices-Volyn Principality (later a kingdom), controlling almost half of the former Kyivan state including nearly all contemporary Ukraine. mid-14th cent Ukrainian lands gradually fell under the rule of Lithuanian, Polish, Turkish and Moldavian states. 1492 1st written evidence of Ukrainian Cossacks. Beginning of 16th cent Foundation of Zaporogian Sich, a sociopolitical and military-administrative organization of Cossacks. 1569 Union of Lyublin between Poland and Lithuania, their unification into a single state-Rzzecz Pospolita. Expansion of Polish feudal' rule over the lands of the Dnieper right bank. 1648-1654 Liberation war of the Ukrainian people led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky against Poland. 8 January 1654 Pereyasliv Rada (Council of Pereyasliv). Ukraine becomes a protectorate of Russia. March 1654 B.Khmelnitsky's March Articles. (Hetman Administration's agreement terms with the Tsarist Government about Ukraine's status as part of the Russian State). 1764-75 Abolition of Hetmanship, elimination of the Zaporogian Sich. 1905-07 First bourgeois-Democratic Resolution in Russia, mass revolutionary actions of workers and peasants in Ukraine. 1917, February Victory of Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution in Russia. 1917, March Establishment of the Central Rada Government in Kyiv. 7 November 1917 Victory of Bolshevik armed uprising in Petrograd; declaration of the Soviet power. 20 November 1917 Proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic. 25 December 1917 Proclamation of Ukraine as the Republic of Soviets in Kharkiv. November 1918 Foundation of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (existed till July 1919). 1918-1920 Civil war in Ukraine which established the Soviet power in the republic. December 1922 Formation of the USSR incorporating Ukrainian SSR. 1941-1944 Nazi Germany occupation of Ukraine. 1945 Ukraine, together with other 50 states, becomes a UN Charter member. 16 July 1990 Ukraine's Supreme Rada declared State independence of Ukraine. 24 August 1991 Supreme Rada adopted the Act on the declaration of State independence of Ukraine. 1 December 1991 All-Ukrainian referendum confirming the Act of the declaration of the State independence of Ukraine The development of a multi-party system has become an important aspect of democratization of Ukraine's social life. Modern Ukrainian multi-party tradition has its roots in the activity of human rights groups, which were the Ukrainian branch of the Helsinki movement (Helsinki Charter, 1975) fighting for human rights of a nation to self-determination. They were originally known as the Ukrainian group to Assist the Implementation of the Helsinki Agreements and later, simply the Ukrainian Helsinki Union. Provisions for institutional development of a multi-party system in Ukraine were made during the so-called "perestroika" period, in particular from 1987 to 1989. During that time a lot of social and political clubs, groups and unions were created. Some scientists accounted for more than 125 such groups. But it was evident that separate political groups had no prospects , and all opposition forces had to be united. The Narodny Rukh of Ukraine appeared to be a social institution (the constituent assembly was held from September 8th to 10th, 1989) which served as a kind of shed for the first Ukrainian political parties.
The first period of Ukraine's multi-party system's experience, which may be called that of "opposition and pre-state", comprised the period from autumn 1989 or the emerging of the first modern Ukrainian parties to December 1991 , with the legal approval of Ukraine as an independent state. During this period the ideological basis of all parties and their political credos were, to a great extent, unified. Differentiation between party structures within the political range took place mainly on the periphery of the spectrum. The various political forces appeared to be similar in their approach to the problems of state-building, the social and economic system they endorsed, even their views on religion, culture and environment were similar. In an attempt to preserve their political influence, parties downplayed their ideologies and developed programs which were identical in their declarative slogans and appeals to the nation as a whole. This is a reason for the vast amount of general democratic dogmatism and hyperbole that was included in the documents of different political parties. All parties, except for the Communist Party of Ukraine, stood for the ideals of parliamentary democracy and private property in one way and form or another. The Democratic Party of Ukraine, the Liberal Democratic Party of Ukraine, the People's Party of Ukraine, the United Social Democratic Party, the Party of Democratic Renaissance of Ukraine, the Green Party, the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, the Ukrainian People's Democratic Party, the Ukrainian National Party, the Ukrainian Republican Party, the Peasants' Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Party have all been unanimous in their struggle for Ukraine's "sovereignty" and "democracy," as well as the establishment of "market economy" and "pluralism" while opposing communist ideology.
After Ukraine proclaimed its independence, an entirely new political situation developed in the country. Parties which had only draft programs, without mechanism for their implementation, became inferior members of the political system. All political parties that operated during the second period of Ukraine's multi-party system were exactly of that kind. The second period can be called "Loyal to the State," and it lasted from December 1991 to early 1993.
At present there are 31 political parties in Ukraine, registered by the Ministry of Justice under the Law on Social Unions.
Economy - BackgroundUkraine, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991, has the largest land mass of any European country, except the European part of Russia. Its population of 52 million makes it the fifth largest European country, but its per capita GNP places it among the lower middle income countries. Nevertheless, it has a highly educated labor force, fertile agricultural land, diverse raw materials, metals and natural resources which still need to be explained further to reduce Ukraine's dependence on costly imports, such as the energy imports from Russia which account for 50% of Ukraine's energy consumption. At the time of independence, industry accounted for 46% of GDP because of the importance to the Soviet Union of the Ukraine-based military industrial complex and the metallurgy and machine-building sectors. The value of the sectors has declined with the closure of the specialized armaments markets. However, the historical importance of Ukraine as the "bread basket" of the former Soviet Union, with agriculture contributing 26% of Ukrainian GDP in 1991, has not diminished. The Government of Ukraine considers agriculture as one of the major potential sources of growth and is taking steps to strengthen it further.
The Physical Resources of Ukraine
Minerals: Ukraine is one of the world's most important mineral producing countries, in terms of both the range and size of its reserves. There are nearly eight thousand separate deposits, harboring some 90 different minerals, of which about 20 are economically significant. About half of all the known deposits are under exploitation.
Coal reserves in Ukraine amount to 47.1 billion tones, comprising 15 billion tones of coke and 32 billion tones of coal for power stations. The largest reserves of anthracitic coal (92%) are located in the Donetsk Basin in the southeast of the country; the remainder are in the Lviv-Volyn Basin in the West. There are large deposits of iron ore (an estimated 28,000 million tones), manganese ore (3,000 million tones), chalk and limestone (1,500 million tones). Ukraine is also more than self-sufficient in a wide range of other minerals, including titanium, mercury, sulphatic and potassium salts, sulfur, granite, bromine and kaolin. In recent years, there have been discoveries of other industrially important minerals such as fluorite, gold, beryllium, lithium, niobium, scandium, barite, apatite, phosphorite, zinc, lead and rare earth's.
Energy: Ukraine is almost self-sufficient in coal, but has to import three-quarters of its natural gas and 90% of its oil. Oil comes almost exclusively from Russia. Diversification of oil supplies would be an expensive alternative, and would require major new infrastructure (terminals and pipelines). In 1993, the total installed electric power generating capacity of Ukraine was 54.4 million kW. Some two thirds of the capacity (36.9 million kW) is accounted for by thermal plants using fossil fuels, the balance by nuclear power (12.8 million kW or 23.5%) and by hydropower (4.7 million kW). Ukraine's annual demand for coal as fuel is about 100 million tones, of which about 85% can be satisfied by domestic production. Ukraine counts 5 nuclear power plants on its territory and 13 working reactors. The expansion of the existing nuclear power facilities, abruptly arrested in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, is central to Ukraine's energy program.
Agriculture and forestry: Ukraine is blessed with potentially rich agro- and forestry land resources. About 70% of the national territory (42 million hectares), is in agricultural use, and some 55% is under cultivation, two-thirds of it on the famed "black soil" (chernozem). There are no serious technical limitations on the further development of agriculture. The utilization of land, however, is currently far from optimal. On one hand, there is a very high proportion of fallow lands. On the other, intensive farming, particularly in black land areas, has reduced soil fertility through compacting, loss of clod-granular structure, and changes in soil moisture and aerobic properties. Ukraine, once the |bread-basket" of Europe, has suffered from falling production levels and is not self-sufficient is all food-stuffs, although exports of some products (such as wheat and sugar beet) are still significant. Forestry and livestock production have also suffered production declines, although the forestry sector maintains good medium term development prospects if proper environmental management, and stringent forest monitoring are implemented.
Industry: Under the Soviet system, the industrial structure was planned around its rich mineral endowments. Heavy industry and the defense industry were predominant. (Ukraine produced almost 25% of all Soviet military goods). Substantial production of steel and pig iron was based on generous supplies of coal and iron ore; other important heavy industrial products include Ferro-alloys, non-ferrous metals, cement, mineral fertilizers and building materials. Ukraine is also a significant producer of non-ferrous metals, automobiles, machine tools, etc.
The disappearance of the central command system has led to the severance of the links which formerly bound various sectors of the economy. At the regional level the local administration has acquired a larger autonomy. Concurrently, industrial units do not rely anymore on regular state subsidies for the execution of specific orders. The old distribution system is gone but has not been replaced by any market mechanism worthy of this name. This has resulted in a constant spiraling fall of production induced by a general lack of cash. While in the former Soviet Union the military industrial complex had the lion's share in the GDP, the new situation, characterized by an absence of orders, has led that sector to a practical standstill. Moreover, while in the former Soviet Union industries of the different republics were closely linked, each factory producing one or several components of a given finished product, nowadays most of these close links have been broken. Payment problems between enterprises have become more and more acute, and in consequence wages started to be paid with huge arrears, with delays of several months, the population thus bearing the burden of currency depreciation and galloping inflation.
The Economy 1990-1995
Many a problem Ukraine is now facing resulted not only from the gloomy heritage of the Soviet Union but were directly related to the slow start in the large-scale radical social and economic transformations.
The economic situation in Ukraine deteriorated after independence for three main reasons:
1. Trade collapsed with the other republics of the former Soviet Union. 2. The dramatic increase in the price of imported energy. 3. The decline in the demand for products from the military industrial complex. Given the absence of clear strategy to overcome the negative impact on the Ukrainian economy, massive arrears built up whilst economic restructuring was postponed. The effect of this was:-
1. The external debt, primarily with Russia and Turkmenistan for energy imports, had risen to US $4,4 billion by October 1994, but it is troublesome, however, because it consists mainly of unpaid energy bills for which there are minimal foreign exchange reserves. 2. During the years 1990-1993, the real GDP fell by 34%, followed by a further decline of 23% in 1994, with industrial output declining over the same period by 41%. 3. The policies pursued created inflation and a substantial budget deficit. In 1991, inflation was 91%, in 1992 1210%, and in 1993 4735%. In October 1994, the government of President Leonid Kuchma made a radical departure from the previous policies and initiated a bold and comprehensive reform program.
In 1995 Ukraine managed to overcome major problems and kept within the program of finantial stabilization worked out by her government and endorsrd by the international financial institutions. She has achieved the first signs of success on the macroeconomics level. The economic situation has become controllable and predicable. The inflation rate has been brought down to a considerable level, while wholesale and retail pricing has been kept within the fair limits at the consumer market. The budget deficit has been maintained within the designated parameters.For the first time the budget has been financed not only through the National Bank loan and the intrusion of international financial institutions but at the expense of revenues from the sales of the Governmevt bonds. The GDP continued to decline but within the foreseen limits.
In the last half of 1995 the Ukrainian economy started responding positively to the first signs of financial stabilization. The National Bank interest rates dropped threefold, which resulted in a certain stability of the exchange rate of the national currency. In the fourth quarter of 1995 the GDP began to grow (by 5% as compared to the third quarter). The intrusion of the National Bank into the monetary market has been minimized.
Because of the late start in the structural reforms and privatization process many problems piled up in different sectors of Ukraine's economy, especially in the coal mining industry. As a result of changes in the entire pricing system the effectiveness and profitability of the agricultural production has decreased considerably.
We have accumulated a lot of problems in our economy and every next step in economic restructuring will be harder than the previous one. Two controversial processes are under way in Ukraine at the moment: the functioning of outdated low-efficient economy, and ongoing efforts to stabilize macroeconomic indicators and economy as a whole, in particular, the shift of priorities in economic reforms towards structural transformations.
Economic Reforms
The Government has taken decisive steps to liberalize prices, reduce subsidies, abolish the practice of issuing State Orders and government intervention in trade, and to remove barriers to exports.
The main strategic objectives of this reform program are:-
1. To reduce inflation quickly. 2. To improve export performance. 3. To establish framework conditions for a recovery in overall economic activity The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has vigorously supported the reform program with a Systemic Transformation Facility (STF), whereby the first tranche of US $370 million was approved on 26th October 1994. The World Bank also approved a US $500 Rehabilitation Loan in December 1994 and a number of bilateral partners began to come forward with offers of loan assistance, to supplement the technical and humanitarian grant assistance which Ukraine had been receiving. In March 1995, Ukraine formally became the beneficiary of a standby Agreement Loan with the IMF worth US $1,8 billion to buttress its financial situation and support the government's strict economic reform program, pending Parliament's acceptance of the government's austerity budget on April 6, 1995, facilitating the continued implementation of President Kuchma's far reaching program of radical economic measures, ensuring the successful outcome to negotiations approving the US $1,8 billion IMF Standby Loan Agreement.
The multifaceted objective of the IMF loan is to assist Ukraine in covering its outstanding payments deficit, reduce its inflation rate, harness market oriented economic development, encourage private sector privatization expansion and mobilize additional foreign economic assistance totaling US $6 billion to finance the transition to a free-market economy - in essence, to achieve an economic metamorphosis in Ukraine.
In addition to the substantial support from both the IMF\World Bank, the following measures have been implemented under the reform program:-
1. Substantial progress has been made towards price liberalization. 2. Prices set by the government have been raised in relation to rent, utilities, bread and energy products. 3. The inter-bank currency exchange has been reopened. controls have been lifted on both exchange rates and the allocation of foreign exchange. 4. The karbovanetz is convertible for all imports and most service transactions. 5. A major tightening of the budget has been implemented. In 1995, the State budget deficit will be reduced to 3,3% of GDP, and Government borrowings from the banking sector are being brought down from 7,7% to 4% of GDP. Simultaneously tax reforms are being introduced. The present system of taxing the wage bill and the income of enterprises at 22% is being replaced by a 30% tax on profits. Measures are also being taken to prevent a further decapitalisation of enterprises and VAT is being reduced from 28% to 20%. Monetary policy is also being tightened in agreement with the IMF. On February 18, 1992 the Law On Limiting Monopolism and Preventing Unfair Competition in Entrepreneurial Activity was adopted, which began shaping Ukraine's antimonopoly legislation. Since then the Antimonopoly Committee was created and its structure determined. Pursuant to the above Law, the Antimonopoly Committee enforces the antimonopoly legislation. The Committee's duties include protecting the interests of entrepreneurs and consumers from antimonopoly law violation, in particular by enforcing the legislation prohibiting the abuse of a monopoly position and incidents of unfair competition.
Banking
As of January 1, 1995, 230 banks were registered in Ukraine: two of them are government-owned, 159 are joint stock companies (96 are open, 63 are closed joint companies), 67 are limited trade companies, 12 are commercial banks with foreign capital, and one foreign bank.
From the very first days of the National Bank foundation, its activities have been aimed at strengthening the position of Ukrainian statehood. The creation of an entirely new banking system stems from the Law On Banks and Banking passed by the Supreme Rada of Ukraine (Parliament) in March of 1991. Under this Law, which created the National Bank of Ukraine (the Central Bank), the Ukrainian banking system is defined as a two-tier structure, consisting of the national Bank of Ukraine and commercial banks of all types and forms of ownership.
National Bank of Ukraine
The National Bank of Ukraine has assumed the status of Central Bank of the State stemming from the declaration of Ukraine's independence.
The National Bank of Ukraine is a public institution. It "is accountable to the Ukrainian Supreme Rada" and "is entitled to a legislative initiative". In its practical activity, the National Bank of Ukraine maintains constant contact with the Government and, first and foremost, with the Ministry of Finance.
Functions of the National Bank of Ukraine
The National Bank of Ukraine serves as:
- The country's Central Bank, which conducts a uniform state policy in the area of monetary circulation and credit, ensures the stability of the national currency (Ukrainian karbovanets) and registers commercial banks; - Issuing center having the exclusive right to issue currency into circulation and also to introduce new denominations of the national currency; - Foreign exchange authority invested with appropriate powers in foreign exchange regulation and control; - A supervisory authority responsible to ensure that commercial banks comply with the requirements established by the National Bank and with the articles of the Law on Banks and Banking; - A banker to the banks authorized to refinance commercial banks; - A banker to the Government providing, though the banking system, cash management of the Ukrainian budget and charged with the management of Government securities; - Organizer of interbank settlements. The National Bank of Ukraine closely cooperates with all major international financial/lending institutions. This includes the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Bank for International Settlements and the Central Banks of Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Great Britain, France, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland and the United States. The National Bank maintains close relations with major commercial banks of Western Europe and the US on issues of monetary policy, organization of banking supervision, banking statistics, adoption of internationally recognized settlement techniques, balance-of-payments compilation and other related monetary/financial matters. The National Bank of Ukraine has correspondent banking relations with more than twenty foreign banks.
Due to the fact that the majority of commercial banks has joint, collective or private forms of ownership, and are operating with total paid-up capital of KBV (karbovanets) 8,8 trillion, they can only deal with enterprises and organizations of the corresponding form of ownership. This situation promotes distribution of commercial banks in those areas where the majority of privatized enterprises, bodies and organizations are located of these.
Nine banks have foreign capital sharply. Commercial banks have a broad network of offices in all of the 24 Ukrainian regions and the Crimean Autonomous Republic - a total of 15,000 branches. More than half of the banks have been licensed to conduct foreign exchange transactions.
In view of the fact that the National Bank was established only four and one half years ago in March 1991, thus heralding the beginning of true commercial banking in Ukraine, it is a dramatic success of that commercial banking activity has developed so rapidly in so short period of time.
The major commercial banks are Ukraine Bank (Bank Ukraina), Prominvest Bank, Ukrsotsbank, the Savings Bank and the Export-Import Bank. These banks have accumulated the bulk of Ukrainian credit resources. Their share in total credit engagement of Ukrainian commercial banks amounts to 90%.
Bank Ukraina, a leading commercial bank, was the first in the country to obtain the general license for conducting operations in hard currency both in Ukraine and abroad.
Commercial banks are formed as joint-stock and mutual entities with both legal corporate entities and individual persons involved. The Savings Bank and the Export-Import Bank are state-owned.
A US $13,0 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, signed in August, was the first bank-to-bank loan in Ukraine. It will allow one of the country's most successful private commercial banks, the 1st Ukrainian International Bank, to expand its medium-term lending to Ukraine's agribusiness sector, thereby diversifying its operations in one of the country's most promising branches of the economy.
KIB, the Kyiv International Bank, has been established with the support of the EBRD, which will invest ECU 1,75 million. To be capitalized at ECU 5 million, KIB will provide a full range of commercial banking and corporate finance services, focusing on long-term funding for medium-sized private enterprises in Ukraine.
With 35% of the bank's capital, the EBRD will be a core equity investor in Kyiv and will be represented on the Board. The proceeds of the investment will be used as bank capital.
Steps are being taken to strengthen the banking system, in accordance with President Kuchma's priority to build a two tier banking sector, comprising of an independent central bank (National Bank of Ukraine) and fully competitive commercial banks. The following steps have been taken:
1. The autonomy of the National Bank of Ukraine is guaranteed which is encapsulated in the new Central Bank Law. 2. A steering committee has been established at the National Bank of Ukraine for the effective supervision and regulation of commercial banks. 3. A study is in progress on the restructuring of the portfolio of non- performing loans in the commercial banking sector. Private Sector Development
Four significant measures have been taken to develop the private sector:
1. The Law of Entrepreneurship has been passed, simplifying the procedure for the registration of a new company. City authorities are now obliged to process licenses within five days. 2. The private sector is being encouraged to acquire the assets of State enterprise directly through public auction. 3. The taxation system pertaining to the private sector to reduce the incidence of any unfair or discriminatory tax. 4. A high level task forces is formulating a legal framework to attract private investors. Domestic and foreign investors will be treated at par. Privatization The privatization program will be accelerated in 1995, which will result in a substantial shift from state to private ownership. Since the advent of privatization in Ukraine in 1992, approximately 28,000 state-owned enterprises have transformed their ownership structure. In 1995 alone, 16, 265 state-owned enterprises began the process of privatization. In the last three years the share of assets owned by the State has dropped almost 35% (from 96% to 62%). Over 28 million citiens have claimed their rights to privatization certificates and 15 million have become the owners of shares in privatized property. Of the 16,265 enterprises that began the process in 1995, 80% were small businesses - twice as meny as in the prior year. The majority of small businesses are planned to be privatized by July, 1, 1996. 400 small businesses are now sold, 60 joint stock companies created and 5000,000 citizens get their privatization certificates each week in Ukraine. In recent years more than 6,000 large and medium. State-owned enterprises have been turned into joint stock companies. 4,000 of them have sold more than 70% of their shares. 100 firms are now selling shares at the stock exchanges in Ukrine. The ongoing privatization efforts are quite critical for the Ukraine's future.
Still, a lot of people enlisted the services of those trust companies which were not simply placing certificates in promising enterprises but really cared for the profits their clients would gain from transactions. While the State Property Fund (SPF), by conducting periodical examinations or receiving reports, tried to comply with legislative standards in exercising control over trust companies in their dealings with privatization papers, it had no right to control how they handled the financial resources of the citizens. This resulted in quite a few violations, with no less than 15 trust companies having their licenses revoked and dozens of criminal proceedings having been initiated. These developments followed from what seemed at first an oversight: there existed no standard agreement between a trust company and a trustee of the property. Each financial intermediary worked with an agreement of his own making. Now such a standard agreement has been prepared by specialists of the State Property Fund, the Ministry of Finance, the Antimonopoly Committee and the National Bank, and has been registered with the Ministry of Justice. The agreement specifies terms for placing certificates and what other documents are needed to make all procedures work properly. The Ministry of Justice also registered the amendments and additions to the regulation on the procedure for control over the activity of trust companies. From now on the State Property Fund, the Ministry of Finance, the Antimonopoly Committee and the National Bank of Ukraine will keep an eye, each within the scope of its competence, on the work of trust companies. Without any doubt the adoption of these documents was rather late in happening, because the citizens are at the threshold of receiving compensation certificates. The latter have been forwarded to five regions and will be handed out, once a number of laws will be adopted to make the new securities perform their function in the market. In all probability certificates will be issued in December.
Foreign Trade
The economic restructuring in Ukraine largely pivots on a transformation of its foreign economic activities. The foreign trade reform is a special tool at the initial stage of the overall new economic strategy since it helps to open new markets at the time when the domestic market is visibly shirked by the crisis. Foreign trade incentive becomes an important vehicle for supporting the healthy domestic balance of payments, giving new impetus to competition for local industries, and securing export-led economic growth in the country.
To make the Ukrainian economy more competitive, and more open to international trade:-
1. The exchange rate has been unified. 2. There is no requirement for exporters to surrender a part of their foreign exchange earnings at an appreciated official rate. 3. The export licensing and quotas have been removed (except for grain, which will be removed later in 1995) and goods subject to voluntary export restriction, and other contingent international agreements. 4. The import regime is being simplified. 5. Trade will be conducted in accordance with GATT\WTO Standards, and excise taxes on imports will be unified in accordance with those set on domestically produced goods. Due to a consistent policy in that area, Ukraine's foreign trade began to grow rapidly even on the background of the overall economic crisis. In 1993-1994 the couture's foreign trade turnover went up by 38 percent, and leaped up by another 32 percent in 1995.
Furthermore, Ukraine managed to attain balance in its trade turnover with the East and the West after years of dealing almost exclusively with the markets in the former Soviet Union, Eastern and Central Europe. In 1993-1994, Ukraine's export to Western markets increased by 34 percent while the trade turnover with the NIS countries grew at a much slower rate - 18 percent. The tendency did not change in 1995. Export to the Western countries increased by almost 40 percent in 1995.
Ukraine's integration into the world economic system is a priority for its sustainable export-oriented economic reform and foreign investment expansion. Promoting relations with the G7 countries, therefore, is central to Ukraine's internationals economic strategy. Foremost among them stands the United States with the largest economic, financial, production, market, scientific, technological and military potential. At its second session in Kyiv last July, the intergovernmental Ukraine-US Commission for the Promotion of Trade and Investment prioritized the agro-industrial business, power engineering, aerospace industry and health care as the key areas of Ukrainian-American joint cooperation.
In the past three years Ukraine-US trade has increased by four times making the United States Ukraine's second largest trade partner after Germany among the G7 countries. It is interesting, though, that Ukraine has a solid positive balance in its trade with the United States. The resulting additional hard currency revenues have had a favorable effect on introducing macroeconomic stabilization measures in Ukraine, in part, made it fiscally possible to continue economic restructuring in the country.
Ukrainian exports: tractors, corn harvesters, sugar beet harvesters, diesel locomotives, coal cutters/loaders, steel, pipes, electric motors, metalcutting machine tools, press-forging plants, tiers, chemical equipment, transformers, computer equipment, buses, excavators, TV sets, tape recorders, china and earthenware, mineral fertilizers, cement. Agricultural products: sugar, confectionery, meat and dairy products, vegetable oil, vegetables, fruit, tinned food. Raw materials: graphite, kaolin, natural sulfur, mercury, beton clays and fireclays, kitchen salt, high-quality flux, glass sands, pearlite, building stone, iron ores, manganese-ore products (concentrates and ferroalloys), coal, products of oil refining and gas processing.
Ukraine imports: oil, gas, timber, coal, nonferrous metals, raw materials containing phosphorus, fluorite, chlorine and potassium fertilizers, raw materials, asbestos, bauxites, magnetite, raw rubber; press-forging and foundry equipment, vehicles, trolleybuses, streetcars, electrical engineering and cable products, wood pulp and wood products, textiles, medicines, watches, sewing machines.
Ukraine's Foreign Economic Realities
Ukraine has conducted its own independent foreign trade since 1992, establishing trade relations with 120 countries. However, this process had its own difficulties. Geared to the command economy of the old Soviet Union, Ukraine could not fully harness its diversified, economic investment potential.
Today, foreign trade numbers have begun to show encouraging signs of stabilization. Ukraine is gradually overcoming the economic crisis in which it found itself from the first day of its independence in 1991. From 1993-1994, Ukraine increased its foreign trade turnover by 38% and in 1994 alone by 14%. Among the former Soviet republics, its foreign trade turnover is second only to that of the Russian Federation. Ukraine is characterized by a high degree of integration into the world's economic systems: exports account for almost one fourth of its GDP.
In 1994, Ukraine managed to introduce changes which have long been an essential element of market economies - it fully liberalized its foreign trade. Ukraine has abolished non-tariff export limitations and suspended other restrictive factors. These market oriented measures had a general positive effect on its foreign trade situation, opening markets in many parts of the world for Ukrainian goods.
Ukraine's foreign trade has lately been gradually reorienting itself to "far abroad" markets, above all developed market economies of Western Europe, the US and the Far East, as opposed to "near abroad" markets of the former Soviet Union (FSU). Whereas export of goods to the "far abroad" increased 34% in 1993-1994, trade turnover with other former Soviet republics increased by only 18%.
Trade with the United States - a priority partner for Ukraine - deserves special attention; in the past three years, trade has increased fourfold. Last year, Ukraine supplied to the US over half a million tons of ferrous metal products, 60,000 tons of iron and manganese ores, 240,000 roller bearings and other products. Ukraine imported US made plastics and plastic products, grain crops and high tech instruments. Among 67 countries, Ukraine's trade turnover with the United States is second only to that of Germany.
It should be emphasized that Ukraine will further develop the legal and institutional underpinnings of its foreign economic policy on the basis of internationally recognized principles formulated by the UN, first and foremost, by way of approaching GATT/WTO norms and principles.
The Ukrainian Government is making a persistent effort to adapt and harmonize Ukrainian trade, tariff, monetary, taxation and investment law with GATT/WTO norms and principles. A number of decrees of President Kuchma on substantive revisions in foreign economic activity regulations have taken effect; these revisions relate to hard currency regulatory mechanisms, a single public policy on import regulation, introduction of INCOTERMS rules, letters of credit and cashing operations in international settlements, prevention of export market dumping and protection of Ukrainian producers in international markets.
Investment Policy and National Economy
Prior to 1994, whatever foreign investments Ukraine received were largely in the form of office equipment, furniture and service cars rather than production equipment, modern technologies and sophisticated business know-how, which could help extricate the country from its economic crisis. Outdated applicable laws, instead of encouraging joint ventures in production, give rise to numerous inefficient trade intermediaries. Foreign investments even began to ebb.
At this stage of economic reform, President L.Kuchma and the Ukrainian Government set the task to ensure irreversible positive changes in all sectors of the economic complex, based on market relations as its chief regulative agent.
The draft Law on the Foreign Investment Regime has been approved by the Verkhovna Rada It may be defined as one of the most liberal market oriented pieces of economic legislation in all the CIS. Absence of discrimination and reliable guarantees for foreign investment are the pivot of the new law.
In 1994 the Ministry of Finance registered 3,042 foreign investments to the sum of US $744 million. According to the Ministry of Statistics, as of January 1995 the volume of foreign direct investments was $393 million.
Foreign investments reach Ukraine from 83 countries worldwide. The Ministry of Economics, the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and the Agency for International Cooperation forecast that in 1996 Ukraine's enterprises will be able to absorb $80 billion in foreign investment. The needs of the sectors are approximately as follows: metallurgy - $7 billion, chemical and petrochemical - $3,3 billion, mechanical engineering - $5,1 billion, transport - $3,6 billion.
The main factors hindering the inflow of foreign capital into Ukraine are unstable legislation, high taxes, a large deficit of the state budget, prohibition on acquiring parcels of land and conducting transactions with them, disparity between the interests of state-owned enterprises and the interests of their managers, red tape, and unsatisfactory contractual discipline.
Territorially, foreign investments are spread unevenly throughout the country. Approximately 80 are concentrated in Kyiv, Odessa Region, Donetsk Region and Crimea. With 56 of investments Kyiv is the undoubted leader. The main bulk of investments originates with investment funds, banks and large companies. Lately some of the sectors (food, tobacco) have attracted money from strategic investors. There have emerged a number of countries-investors who prefer specific sectors of the economy.
According to statistical data for late 1994, US investors were first among those of 83 countries. More than 300 Ukrainian-American joint ventures are operating. The United States accounts for approximately 23% of all foreign investments into the Ukrainian economy. The bulk of American investment is targeted into mechanical engineering, metalworking, commercial activity, the food industry, domestic and foreign trade and agriculture.
From the viewpoint of foreign investors, Ukraine has tangible advantages over other countries: considerable capacity of domestic market (over 52 million people) for almost all categories of consumer goods and equipment needed to retool existing production; a substantial scientific-technological potential; strategic economic-geographic location; rich natural resources; competitive relatively inexpensive labour force; sufficiently advanced agriculture and large expanses of fertile black soil and the high entrepreneurial activity and business acumen of large sectors of the population. Land Reform
The Government will withdraw from the ownership of land. The Land Code of 1992 is being amended further to provide for the distribution of identifiable land shares and assets to the individual members of the State and Collective farms in the shortest possible time. The privatization of urban land and buildings is being facilitates through new legislation.
The main objective of the current agrarian policy is to arrest the decline in agricultural output, to radically restructure economic, social and legal relations in the sector, to shape a multimode agrarian economy, and to integrate the sector into the world food market. Land is gradually being transferred from the ownership of collective farms to private farmers. The property sharing of agricultural enterprises is finished, each member owning an individual share in value terms. The owners have the right to use their property share as they see fit, i.e., sell it, lease it leave it as inheritance, grant it or set up a private enterprise on its basis. The majority of peasants have used this right. At the present time 14 of agricultural land has been transferred to the private ownership of village workers.
The key element of the new agricultural policy is market and price liberalization. The government has already reduced or canceled state contracts and state orders, and has allowed to set up agricultural commodity auctions. Producers now can freely market their products except for a limited number of what are referred to as strategic products (e.g., grain). Free market and competitive structures are developing slowly but surely.
For accelerated and meaningful reform to occur in agriculture there must be a shared belief in and commitment to a common reform strategy between the executive and legislative branches of government in Kyiv and among agricultural leaders within the regions and districts. Equally important, farm and plant directors and managers as well as private farmers must understand and participate in the reform process. What are the key elements of such a strategy?
Such a strategy includes the following:
- private ownership of agricultural assets and demonopolization of agricultural enterprises; - elimination of state contracts and orders; - liberalization of producer prices; - elimination of export licenses and quotas; - privatization of the marketing system and development of alternative market channels, including the creation of a private system for input supplies, private intermediaries, and wholesale markets; - establishment of a viable rural credit system; - redefining the role of the ministry and government in the agricultural sector so that government facilitates the development of a market-oriented agriculture and food system; - creation of a technical and business advisory service system for farmers; - creation of a legislative and legal framework which attracts investment; - modification of corporate tax policies; - compliance with the GATT/WTO process in the agricultural sectors. Of particular importance is the privatization of the agricultural enterprises and land in which individuals and groups of individuals have clearly defined ownership rights. This includes privatizing and demonopolizing processing, procurement and delivery enterprises. Hand in hand with this goes the creation of a rural banking and credit system that can provide farms with access to credit at reasonable interest rates. Without credit facilities farms and farmers as well as processing enterprises will continue to face difficulties in obtaining the necessary inputs - seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, equipment, tractors., etc. - or equipment for their operations.
Transport
The transport of general use is presented by the railways, steamship-lines, river transport, amalgamation "Air Ukraine", motor transport, and pipeline one. The transport network of Ukraine is characterised by the operating length of railways which is equal to 22.8 mln km, and by the length of motor roads which is equal to 157.2 mln km. Density of railways per 1000 sq. km. of the territory is 38 km, and the density of motor roads is 260.4 km. 20.8 mln. tons of shipments per year and 3.3 mln of passengers are delivered by every operating km. of the railways. Annually 9 bln. passengers use available passenger transport facilities: 92% are transported by conventional public buses.
The total amount of cargoes, which is delivered by all kinds of transport is 6286 mln. tons.
There is comparably well developed air transport communication system in Ukraine. The number of International airlines is growing now. The amalgamation "Air Ukraine International" is one of the most developed air transportation companies.
Ukraine has a powerful merchant and passenger fleet. The most important ports in the basins of the Black and Asov seas are Odessa, Illichivs"k, Youzny, Evpatoria, Sevastopol, Yalta, Feodosiya, Kherson, Mykolayev, Kerch, Berdyansk, Mariupol.
Substantial shipments of cargoes and transportation of passengers are carried out by the river fleet of Ukraine. The most important rivers where navigation is available are the Dnipro, the Southern Bugh, Dnister and Desna.
Communication
Approximately 17 thousand enterprises in Ukraine offer communication services. There are more than 30 telecommunication agencies. An expanding array of tele- and radio communications in increasingly available in Ukraine and new joint-venture companies provide modern technology development in this sphere; among them are Utel, Ukrainian Mobile Communication and others. The communications network in Ukraine is efficient and constantly improving as capitalization and investment increase.
Tourism market
After acquiring its independence in 1991, despite all her economic and political challenges, Ukraine has emerged as the most stable and peaceful country among the former Soviet Union states in the European theater (Eastern Europe and the Caucasus). Government policy actively welcomes foreign investors, business people and tourists, With one of Europe's largest populations, over 52 million people, Ukraine is developing as one of the continent's potentially most active and diverse tourist regions. Offering a broad spectrum and rich tapestry of high level cultural-historical, national-folklore and environmental-nature tourism, Ukraine is strategically located in immediate proximity to the major tourist center of Europe and the Middle East and is conveniently connected to them by air, railroad and sea transportation routes. In 1994, Ukraine received over 620,000 foreign tourists and generated foreign exchange receipts amounting to US $189 million. The tourist industry sector has great potential to develop into a major source of foreign exchange generation by the year 2000. In view of Ukraine's critical need to develop viable hard currency producing economic sectors, the Government and tourist industry are seeking to upgrade hotel and resort facilities to high international standards, in order to maximize the long-term potential of the industry and adequately harness the nation's diversified tourist market. Due to the development of foreign business ties, Ukraine is gradually receiving proposals of investment capitalization into tourist-hotel facilities such as the construction of hotels at the Black Sea shore, in the Carpathian area and in the capital city of Kyiv. In addition to developing as a valuable generator of foreign exchange, the tourist industry has the potential of emerging as a major labour intensive economic sector within the span of only five years.
For the first time in 1994, Ukraine sponsored the International tourism Conference Ukraine-94 in Kyiv and representatives attended from 200 firms and 27 countries. This year Ukraine is planning a second major tourist conference which will be held on October 16-18 in Kyiv; within the framework of this CIS Revival of Tourism-95 Conference, seminars on the issues of development of tourism in Ukraine and the CIS will be held, at which time representatives f Ukraine's Government, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and leading national foreign tourist agencies will deliver speeches on tourism potential in this emerging tourism market. The cities of Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, Kharkiv, Zaporishia, Chernivtsi, Ternopil and Yalta are the most popular destinations with foreign travelers among the 25 tourist centers of Ukraine. The great cultural monuments of history and architecture in Ukraine's national treasure trove play a leading role in familiarizing tourists to this nation's rich cultural-artistic heritage; the number of these imposing monuments throughout Ukraine is impressive, but the "museums" of world fame, as per UNESCO classification, are located in Kyiv. The most popular with tourists are: St.Sophia Cathedral; Kyiv Pechersk Monastery (Lavra); St.Andrew and St.Cyril Churches. Each historic monument, each architectural site, each cathedral, each church and each monastery is a magnificent edifice of artistic splendor and cultural achievement; but most significantly, all these monuments stand as awe inspiring tributes to the historical background, cultural heritage and personal artistic legacy of generations of Ukraine's greatest national resource - its noble, generous, warm and hospitable people, who have persevered national trials and tribulations with admirable dignity of the human spirit and soaring artistic expression. Recently, the noted German journalist, Wolf Tear, summed up his unforgettable impressions of his visit to Ukraine: "I will certainly tell all my countrymen about the hospitality of Ukrainian people; I will enthusiastically persuade them to undertake a memorable tourist trip to Ukraine. And if they ask me what I remember most, I will answer without hesitation - the Ukrainian people. If you are a foreign visitor, you should know that you are discovering a hospitable country, and this ancient land will welcome you with typical Ukrainian warmth!".
President Kuchma's 6-point reform program
On 11 October 1994, President Leonid Kuchma presented a reform program to the Parliament, designed to initiate a comprehensive process of change supported by credits and loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and bilateral partners. The President stated that the choices facing the country were "to assure us and future generations of a worthy life". The detailed reform program was circulated in advance to the Parliament. In his presentation, the President stressed its six major priorities:
Financial and monetary stabilization: "The only way out of the financial crisis is deep structural reform of the country's entire financial system". Measures will include price liberalization, a reformed taxation system and the building of a two-tier banding sector comprising an independent national bank and fully competitive commercial banks.
Radical institutional reform: "The main concern is to radically reform proprietorial relations". Measures will include rapid and widespread privatization, a process of corporatization which retains collective forms of owner-management, and the creation of a modern stock exchange.
Economic restructuring: "The suggested course is based on attaching priority to science-intensive and high technology sectors of our economy". Priority will be given to facilitating the development of economic sectors capable of yielding high returns on capital, including consumer goods, agro-industry, public utilities and trade.
Agricultural development: "The braking or halting of agrarian reforms have been major factors in impeding the national economy to overcome its crises". The principal measure will be the privatization of land-ownership in order to ensure that land belongs primarily to those who work it.
Integration with the global economy: "Our goal is gradual establishment of an open economy and Ukraine's accession to the global economic space". Ukraine will move towards an open trading system, borrow funds to meet its immediate needs for fuel and other essentials, evolve a stable and favorable legal base" to attract foreign investments, and help to build a climate of confidence to attract back the capital that has left the country.
Social policies: "State will do everything to... keep every heart warm and maintain peace and political stability". There are six priorities in this area: (1) reform of the wage structure; (2) pension reform; (3) promotion of share-holding; (4) continued public financial support for health, education, science and culture "which will remain free of charge for the bulk of the population"; (5) facilitation of private house ownership through mortgages, and free access to housing for vulnerable groups; (6) decentralization of fiscal responsibility for social expenditures to the regional and local levels.
Differences of statistical definition in the Soviet Union
There are several areas of economic and social statistics where definitions used in the Soviet Union were at variance with the UN definitions that have become standard for most of the world. Some of these have an important bearing on the calculations of key variables used in computing Human Development Indices. Two of the most important concern the calculations of national income and infant mortality:
Net material product (NMP) is a measure of national income that includes total final output of goods and "productive" services, but leaves out activities that do not result in material output (such as health, education and public administration). On a direct comparison basis, the NMP would be smaller than the equivalent measure of Gross Domestic Product. However, the international valuations of national income and income per head of the FSU tended to be exaggerated by the exchange-rates used. Just prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union June 1991 the official exchange-rate was US $ 1.00 - Rubles 0.59. One year later, after the beginning of the reforms, the market rate was US $ 1.00 - Rubles 85. At the end of 1994, the rate stood at over Rubles 3,200 and Karbovanets 150,000.
Live births: according to the standard UN definition, "live births, regardless of size, gestation age, "viability" or death soon after birth. In the FSU, "live births" exclude infants born with no breath, but with other signs of life, and all infants who succumb during the fierce seven days of their life. In practice, therefore, the Soviet definition yields higher levels of infant mortality.
Ukraine: education at a glance
Preschool and day care
The Soviet goal to achieve full employment for women bequeathed to Ukraine one of the most extensive networks of preschool centers in the world. Enrollment in these institutions tended to be high, as the state bore 90% of the cost. In 1992, enrollment stood at 47% of the country's 2.4 million preschool children (63% in urban areas and 34% in rural areas). This represents a decline from 1990 levels, probably linked to new legislation that provided for fully paid leave during pregnancy and the first six months of the child's life, and half-pay for the subsequent two-and-a-half years. Declining enrollment also reflects the decision by primary schools to begin admitting children at age 6 rather than age 7. Finally, an official statement released in January 1995 stated that the number of preschool centers had decreased by more than 1,300 since 1994.
General schools (primary and secondary)
Education through ninth grade is compulsory and almost universal except in isolated areas. In 1992, general school students numbered just over 7 million in 20,900 schools, and the student-teacher ratio was 12.6. Following independence, a limited degree of curricula revision has been attempted through experimentation with new core and elective course offerings, and the opening of new schools for academically gifted children. Educational development is hampered, however, by the lack of educational resources for investment in school facilities, teachertraining, and teaching aids.
Vocational and technical schools
Ukraine has 1,246 vocational and technical schools with an enrollment of 650,000 students. Students usually enter vocational school directly from general schools. The length of study for a specialized certificate is three- and-a-half years. Most students enter the solaced
Like the lower schooling system, the vocational\technical curricula are still confined by the recent past. In the Soviet era, 1200 narrow specialization's were on offer, designed to produce a highly specialized workhorse to meet the needs of the command economy. Since independence, the number of specialization's has been reduced (800 in 1992). The Ministry of Education is contemplating a further reduction to around 300.
A 1993 World Bank study concluded that Ukraine's vocational/technical school system is the most diverse, diffuse and least-structured part of the overall educational system, with considerable potential for workhorse retraining. While the system is currently in transition to a program that could better serve the nascent private sector, it will require significant external assistance.
Higher education (universities and equivalent institutions)
Ukraine has a rich array of higher learning institutions, including 11 universities. Enrollment for 1993 was over one-and-a-half-million students, with an overall student-faculty ratio of less than 5:1, which is well below the ratio in most developed countries. Educational standards across the large number of higher learning institutions is varied; the Ministry of Education intends to introduce an accreditation system to help regulate standards.
The distinction between undergraduate and postgraduate studies is blurred, especially with respect to international equivalencies of Bachelor, Master and Doctorate degrees. With Ukraine now an independent member of the international community, officials recognize the need to clarify and streamline the institutional setup. An effort is under way to internationalize post-graduate education by defining clear levels similar to those in North America and some West European countries.
Labor Resources and Scientific Potential
Labor resources make up 29 million, including 28,9 able-bodied people of working age. There are 3.014 million specialists with a higher education and 3,965 million with secondary vocational education. Ukraine has a great scientific potential and has made substantial contributions to such fields as electronics, transport aircraft manufacture, metallurgy, space research, chemistry, medicine, physics, ship building and the military industry.
Kyiv is the scientific center, with 60% of the scientific research force concentrated in the capital. Other centers of science are Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk and Simferopol. The collective voice of empoverment non-governmental organizations
By bringing together like-minded individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) encourage people's participation. Often their activities also seek to empower others - by reaching out to the disadvantaged, of giving voice to marginalized groups. And, of prime importance for democratic development, NGOs often play a constructive advocacy role by drawing the attention of policy-makers to social concerns which might otherwise be overlooked. NGOs are one of the key foundations of civil society.
Apart from the churches. NGOs are a new phenomenon in Ukraine. In the former Soviet Union, organizations and movements were begun at the behest, and under the patronage of the state. Just prior the independence, new independent organizations began to emerge, many of them promoting the renaissance of national culture and traditions. A new law was adopted by Parliament in 1992 which defined public organizations as political parties, scientific, cultural and educational organizations, sports clubs, amateur associations, women, veteran and youth organizations, and voluntary groups. All such organizations, currently labeled "NGOs", must be registered with the Ministry of Justice to obtain official recognition. International NGOs are registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
By 1994, more than 2,500 organizations, spanning all of the above spheres, had been registered. A detailed survey of a sample of 442 NGOs conducted in April 1994 revealed the following:
- The largest number of NGOs was formed in 1992, after which new registrations have declined sharply; - Nearly all NGOs (97%) are principally dependent on voluntary contributions from their membership, but nearly a third receive government subsidies; - 10 per cent raised money from publications; - By type of organization, the largest group of NGOs (29%) are professional associations, while 23% are classified as being of a charitable nature, 17% cultural, 12% educational, 7% research, 6% youth organizations, less than 2% religious; - In terms of function and area of activity, the largest numbers of NGOs are concerned with health (17%), population issues (16%), environment (11%), children (10%), human rights (7%) and humanitarian assistance (6%); - In more than a third of the survey group, the NGO is headed by a women. The problems faced by the population are both a spur and a hindrance to the development of NGOs. Many have emerged in response to human need, but nearly all suffer from financial difficulties. They would benefit from more clarity in regard to their legal and financial status, since there is currently no clear definition of a non-profit organization, and registered NGOs are not exempt from taxation.
Ukraine joins the family of European Nations
Stages of Accession to the Council of EuropeUkraine applied to join the Council of Europe on July 14, 1992. After the declaration of sovereignty on July 16, 1990 and independence which received massive public support in the referendum of December 1, 1991 a series of amendments to the Constitution of 1978 set the state on the path toward democracy.
Special guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was granted to the Ukrainian Parliament on September 16, 1992.
In the spring and summer of 1994 Ukraine held parliamentary and presidential elections. Assemblyobservers of the first round of the parliamentary election concluded that "the electoral process was fairly conducted and the election was free and fair, despite an apparently flawed electoral law". New laws on elections and political parties are now being prepared.
In the course of 1994, after separate but coordinated visits effected at the request of the Assembly, two eminent jurists reported "spectacular progress" in bringing the constitutional provisions and general legislation on Ukraine into conformity with the Council of Europe's principles (notably, the European Convention on Human Rights). They concluded that further profound reform was necessary, but that this might well be effected "after accession". This report was released on April 6, 1995. It was the basis for the visit of the Assembly's three rapporteurs to Ukraine (Kyiv and Crimea).
The constitutional situation has since been clarified (especially in regard to the separation of powers, the protection of human rights and the prospects for fast economic reform) with the signing by the President and Parliament, on June 8, 1995, of the Constitutional Agreement on the Basic Principles of the Organization and Functioning of State Power and Local Self-Government. This agreement should be followed by the adoption of a new Constitution in conformity with the Council of Europe's principles not later than June 8, 1996. Meanwhile, provisions and concepts of the Constitution of 1978 which are incompatible with the agreement are made inoperative.
A "partnership and cooperation agreement" between Ukraine and the European Union was singed on June 14, 1994. Progress in macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform, despite unfavorable developments in terms of trade, enabled the signing of a further "interim agreement" on June 1, 1995. Membership of the World Trade Organization is envisaged.
Ukraine has been taking part in various activities of the Council of Europe since 1992 - through its participation in intergovernmental "cooperation and assistance" programs (notably, in the fields of legal reform and human rights) and the participation of its special guest delegation in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly and its committees.
"Political dialogue" between Ukraine and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe was initiated on July 13, 1995.
Ukraine has signed the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities. Moreover, it has acceded to the European Cultural Convention, the European Convention on Foreign Law and its Additional Protocol and the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or Authorities.
On September 26, 1995 the Parliamentary Assembly almost unanimously (one abstained) recommended the Committee of Ministers (executive body of the Council of Europe) to admit Ukraine to the organisation as a full-fledged member. Resolution passed by the Committee of Ministers on October 19, 1995 invited Ukraine to become a member of the Council of Europe. And finally, on November 9,1995 the official ceremony of acceding Ukraine to this international organisation took place in Strasbourg.
Culture
Literacy: almost 100%. Compulsory education: from age of 7 to 17. Expenditure on education: 21.1% government funding. Daily newspapers: 1,794. Newspaper circulation: 24 million copies. Public libraries book stock: 421,200,200 volumes. Book production: 8,311 titles. Museums, historical sites: 196. Professional theaters: 131. Over the centuries the Ukrainian people have created a singular art of music, rooted deep in the misty pre-Christian times. Folk traditions have preserved to this day original ritual songs, dances and games dedicated to holidays, such as Kolyada (Christmas carols), Vesna (Spring and Kupalo (St.John's Eve). The flourishing of Kyiv Rus' in the 10th-11th cc. was the fertile ground on which heroic epos grew and matured (e.g., ballads performed to the accompaniment of the husly psaltery, skomorokhy minstrels, and military music). Musicians are among the fresco images perpetuated on the walls of St.Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv, evidence of the role music played in the life of Rus' princes. Chronicles dating from the 15th-17th cc. contain records of ballads and historical songs. The Ukrainian folk vocal heritage boasts a multitude of lyrical, humorous, patriotic, satirical, drinking and children's songs and romances. Kobza, bandura, sopilka (pipe, flute), basolya (primitive double bass), buben (tambourine), tsymbaly (dulcimer), violin, kolisna lira (wheel lyre) and koza (Ukr.folk version of the bagpipe) became truly national musical instruments. In Gogol's words, songs are for Ukraine "poetry, history and one's father's grave".
Professional musical culture appeared and developed following the introduction of Eastern Orthodox Christianity by Prince Volodymyr. The main venue of religious music and vocalism was the Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv where Greek-Bulgarian church tunes were adapted to local traditions, and where the original Kyiv school of church music (Kyivsky rozspiv) eventually appeared. Secular songs and music gained popularity in the second half of the 18th c.
Hetman K.Rozumovsky had a choir, an orchestra, even a miniature opera house (since 1751), and a unique library of music in Hlukhuv. The choir at the Kyiv Academy numbered 100 men. In 1707, the Kyiv Orchestra was established under the City Hall's auspices, and in 1768 a music school was attached to it.
In Eastern Ukraine (then under Russia), branches of the Russian Imperial Music Society were opened in all the big cities in the second half of the 19th c., and every such branch was complete with an orchestra, a choir, a chamber group, and a music school (the latter would subsequently turn into colleges of music and/or conservatories). It was from Ukraine, too that singers and conductors joined the royal companies in St.Petersburg and Moscow and became their stars (e.g., Stravinsky, Zabila-Vrubel, Alchevsly).
However, the key figure of the Ukrainian musical renaissance was Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912), pianist, composer, conductor, folklorist and pedagogue who left behind creative heritage extending to almost every genre (including 10 operas, among them the well-known Taras Bulba and Natalka Poltavka). At present, Ukraine numbers 6 opera houses, 3 operettas, 10 state philharmonic societies, dozens of folk choirs and song-and-dance groups, 5 higher music schools and 25 Regional Philharmonic Societies. New non-government symphony and chamber orchestras, brass bands and choirs have been formed since Ukraine's proclamation of independence in 1991.
A number of prominent musicians were born in Ukraine, destined to make a tangible contribution to the cultural heritage of many countries and peoples of the 20th c. Ukraine preserves numerous historical sites which testify that Ukrainian culture goes back thousands of years. Archaeological finds dating from the Paleolithic period of the Stone Age include household utensils, tools and weapons covered with anthropo- and zoomorphous ornaments. The Trypillya culture (4th-2nd millennia B.C.) is well represented by whimsically decorated crockery, stylized figures of women, etc. The creative heritage of the Scything and people inhabiting the ancient city-stales of the northern Points Littoral consists of unique objects of gold, mosaic and fresco images, marble and stink statues and graceful vases. The arts of Kyiv Rus' began to take shape at the turn of the 9th c., and the baptism of Rus' by Prince Volodymyr the Great (988) produced a tremendous impact on monumental construction and the highly artistic decoration of the numerous churches and cathedrals in Kyiv, Chernihiv and other cities. It also stimulated the development of miniature book printing and calligraphic headlines for religious manuscripts.
Feudal strife regional icon painting schools gained momentum. Very few samples of this craft (mostly preserved in Western Ukraine) survived the Golden Horde's devastating onslaught, and even fewer have reached our days.
Petro Mohyla played a significant role in the development of art. He sponsored the construction of churches and the establishment of what became known as the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, the monastery's print shop, etc.
The 17th-18th cc. were marked by an upsurge in Ukrainian pictorial art. A new state appeared, known as Ukrainian or Cossack baroque, having finally overcome the Byzantine icon-painting tradition. The most prominent creations of that period include icons from Kyiv's cathedrals of St.Sophia and Michael, those from the Church of Our Savior and Holy Transfiguration in Velyki Sorochyntsi (Poltava oblast), the Dormition and Good Friday churches in Lviv, the Churches of the Holy Ghost in Rohatyn (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast) and Potelych in Lviv oblast.
St.Volodymyr's Cathedral was built in 1882, designed by architects P.Strom, P.Sparro and O.Beretti. Its interior was decorated by artists V.Vasnetsov, M.Nesterov, and M.Vrubel.
Among the significant attainments of Ukrainian artistic culture are the monument to Bohdan Khmelnutsky, designed by M.Mikeshyn, unveiled on St.Sophia Square in Kyiv in 1888: the ones to Ivan Kotlyarevsky in Poltava (1896-1903, sculpt: L.Pozen: Adaur Mickiewicz in Lviv (1905-1906, A.Popel) and others.
An important role in the assertion of modern Ukrainian art was played by the Ukrainian State Academy of Art, founded in Kyiv in 1917. Among its members were prominent painters and teachers, such as Heorhiy Narbut, Vasyl and Fedir Krychevsky, Mikhailo Boychuk, Oleksandr Murashko, Mikhailo Zhuk, Mykola Burachek and Abraham Manevych, subsequently it was reorganized in Kyiv State Institute of Art (its academic status was restored in 1992).
The 20th c. is marked by the appearance of two brilliant folk painters, Kateryna Bilokur and Mariya Prymachenko. Their subtle portrayals of Ukrainian nature (Bilokur) and of fantastic chimerical metaphoric world (Prymachenko) added new genre compositional techniques to folk pictorial art, ridding it of set traditions.
Democratic changes in society gave impetus to creative search as artists began to look for their place, their true personal creative idea in the context of modern public life.
Among the current leading Ukrainian artists are H.Neledva, V.Ryzhukh, Yu.Lutskevych, Ya.Levych, O.Dubovyk, I.Marchuk, T.Silvaczi, A.Antonyuk, O.Babak, E.Tetyanych, H.Vysheslavsky; sculptors Yu.Synkevych, V.Prokopov, T.Bryzh; Graphic artists M.Kompanets, M.Aleksandrov, Natalya Lopukhova, and many others.
Ukraine numbers 441 cities and towns, 915 so-called urban-type settlements, and some 30.000 villages. Urban planning and architecture are notions dating from the Paleolithic period, from the settlemelts of the Trypillya culture, and ancient cities of the northern Pontic littoral. Architecture in Kyiv Rus' marked an important stage in the process. Among the monumental religious structures is St.Sophia's Cathedral, built under Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise (1037) as the principal temple of the Old Rus' state, is probably the best known monument to the past. The 40x50 meters House of God is crowned by 13 cupolas. The walls of the altar, the main cupola and the floor were decorated by colorful mosaic patterns (260 sq. meters of which have survived the ravages of time), frescoes and stucco ornaments. All the images have a clearly iconographic character.
The architectural ensemble of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves (founded in 1051) is known the world over, with its Cathedral of the Dormition (1072-78; demolished in 1941), the Above-the-Gate Church of the Holy Trinity, the Refectory (1106-1108) and 12th c. fortified walls.
The refined and whimsical baroque style reached its apex in Ukraine's architecture in the 17th-18th cc. Its Western European traditions is vividly manifest in such Lviv's structures as the Bernardine Cathedral with a row of cells in Lviv (1600-39; arch. P.Rymlianyn and P.Prykhylny), the Royal Arsenal (1639; arch. P.Hrodzytsky), St.George's Cathedral (1744-70; arch. B.Meretyn). Active construction was carried out in the Helman's seats in Eastern Ukraine (e.g., Chyhyryn, Hlukhiv, Baturyn), as well as in Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv; in the towns occupied by Cossack colonels and captains (e.g., Myrhorod, Nizhyn, Starodub and Romny). It was also in that period that the architectural ensembles of monasteries were built. Two major trends dominated the composition of cathedrals: creative use of the traditional Ukrainian wooden church, and Old Rus' architecture. The former, otherwise known as Ukrainian or Cossack baroque, is represented by St.George's Cathedral of Kyiv's Vydubytsky Monastery (1696-1701), the All Saints Church (1698), the Monastery of the Caves, St.Catheryne's Church in Chernihiv (1715), the Church of Our Savior and the Holy Transfiguration in Velyky Sorochyntsi (1732; Poltava oblast), etc. The latter is apparent in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and St.Elias in Chernihiv (1679-95), Poltava's Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross (1689-1709), the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Mharsky Monastery (1684-92) near Poltava, etc.
Structures designed by the famous Francesco/Bartolomeo Rastrelli, among them St.Andrew's Church (1747-53) and the graceful Mariyinsky Palace, produced a tremendous impetus on the development of Ukrainian architecture.
Ukraine's folk monumental wooden architecture is represented by hundreds of original structures, including St.Nichola's Church in the village of Kryvky, Lviv oblast (1763; transferred to Lviv in 1930), the Church of the Virgin Vary's Protective Veil in Novhorod-Siversky, Chernihiv oblast, and the 9-cupola Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (1773-81), built by Yakym Pohrebnyak, a carpenter, in Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
Then the whimsical baroque was replaced by strict classicism. The turn of the 19th c. saw the appearance of cities in the south of Ukraine which were destined shortly to become important industrial and cultural centers (e.g., Katerynoslav (currently Dnipropetrovsk), 1784; arch. M.Kozakov and I.Starov; Odesa, (1794; eng F.Sainte-Lucee de Wollant). Architectural ensembles of the first half of the 19th c. serve as the best samples of European art (e.g., the "Round Square" in Poltava (1809; arch. M.Amvrosymov). Among the best structures are Prince Bezborodko's Lucce in Nizhyn (1824; arch. L.Ruska), St.Volodymyr's University in Kyiv (1843; arch. A.Beretti), the palatial mansions of P.Halahan in Sokirnytsi, Chernihiv oblast (1829; arch. P.Dubrovsky) and K.Rozumovsky in Baturyn (1803; arch. C.Cameron). Among Ukraine's romantic landscape parks the one known as Sofiyivka, in Uman, has international acclaim (1800-26; eng. L.de Metzel, arch. A.Stakenschneider, gardener P.Zaremba). Industrial projects began being built in the second half of the 19th c. Industrial giants were erected in the south of Ukraine, along with the expansion of old and the construction of new cities. New building materials and constructions appeared, which called for aesthetic perception in the new designs (railroad terminals, roofed marketplaces, warehouses, circuses and arcades). Seeking innovations, the architects turned to historical - or rather, to neo-styles, such as neoclassicism, neobaroque, neo-Renaissance, neo-Gothic, etc.
Drama and movie theaters (the latter designed to be used also as concert halls) appeared in almost every city and town in the 1980s. The best designs include the Ukraina Palace of Culture in Kyiv, seating 4.000 (arch. Yc.Marynchenko, P.Zhylytsky); theaters in Simferopol (S.Afzameldinova, V.Yndin), Sumy (S.Slipets, O.Chornodid), Ivano-Frankivsk (H.Sosnovy, S.Slipets), and the Musical Drama Theater of Odesa (P.Topuz, V.Krasenko; 1982). Considerable importance was attached to university buildings. Libraries stadiums and resort sanitarium complexes.
Ministries of UkraineMinistry of Internal Affairs
252024 Kiev-24, 10 Bohomolets St. Tel. (040) 226-33-17
Ministry of Economics
252009 Kiev-8, 12\2 Hrushevsky St. Tel. 293-93-94
Ministry of Power Engineering and Electrification
252001 Kiev-1, 30 Khreshchatik St. Tel.291-73-33
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
252028 Kiev-18, 1 Mikhailivska Square. Tel.226-33-79, 212-82-86
Ministry of Communications
252001 Kiev-1, 22 Khreshchatik St. Tel. 228-45-30
Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations
252655 Kiev-53, MSP655, 8 Lviv Square. Tel. 226-27-33
Ministry of Civil Engineering and Architecture
252133 Kiev-133, 26 Lesia Ukrainka Boulevard. Tel. 226-27-86
Ministry of Culture
252030 Kiev-30, 19 Ivan Franko St. Tel. 226-26-45
Ministry of Forestry
252601 Kiev-1, 5 Khreshchatik St. Tel. 226-27-35
Ministry of Mechanical Engineering, the Military-Industrial Complex and Conversion
252034 Kiev-34, 5 Pushkin St. Tel. 229-03-90
Ministry of Defense
252168 Kiev-168, 6 Povitroflotsky Prospect. Tel. 224-71-52
Ministry of Education
252135 Kiev-135, 10 Prospect Peremohy. Tel. 216-24-42
Ministry of Public Health
252021 Kiev-21, 7 Hrushevsky St. Tel. 226-22-05
Ministry of Labor
252004 Kiev-4, 28 Pushkin St. Tel. 224-10-70
Ministry of Environmental Protection
252002 Kiev-1, 5 Khreshchatik St. Tel 228-26-69
Ministry of Industry
252067 Kiev-67, 15 Raskova St. Tel. 226-26-23
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Production
252001 Kiev-1, 24 Khreshchatik St. Tel. 226-34-66
Ministry of Social Security
252053 Kiev-53, 26\28 Kudriavska St. Tel. 226-24-01
Ministry of Statistics
252601 Kiev-23, VSP, 3 Shota Rustaveli St. Tel. 226-24-21, 226-20-21
Ministry of Transport
252150 Kiev-150, 51 Gorky St. Tel. 446-01-11
Ministry of Population Protection Against the Chernobyl Accident Consequences
252196 Kiev-196, 1 Lesia Ukrainka Square. Tel. 296-80-38
Ministry of Youth and Sport
252023 Kiev-23, 42 Esplanadna St. Tel. 220-03-66
Ministry of Finance
252008 Kiev-8, 12\2 Hrushevsky St. Tel. 226-24-16
State Committees and Agencies
State Property Fund
252008 Kiev-8, 3 Sadova St. Tel. 226-26-50
Antimonopoly Committee
252008 Kiev-8, 3 Sadova St. Tel. 228-76-74
Committee for Material Resources
252008 Kiev-8, 12\2 Hrushevsky St. Tel. 293-61-41
Committee for the Light and Textile Industry
252023 Kiev-23, 8\10 Esplanadna St. Tel. 226-21-05
Committee for Labor Protection Supervision
252004 Kiev-4, 8\26 Shevchenko Boulevard. Tel. 226-20-83
Committee for Nuclear Energy
252014 Kiev-14, 9 Bastionna St. Tel. 294-84-54
Committee for Water Facilities
252001 Kiev-1, GSP, 8 Chervonoarmiyska St. Tel. 225-31-92
Committee for the Coal Industry
252034 Kiev-34, 16 Striletska St. Tel. 244-66-09
Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources
252003 Kiev-3, 43 Volodimirska St. Tel. 226-23-11
Committee for Housing and Communal Services
252008 Kiev-8, 3 Sadova St. Tel. 293-04-59
Committee for Land Resources
252601 Kiev-1, 10 Hrushevsky St. Tel. 293-93-77
Committee for Material Reserves
252025 Kiev-25, 9 Volodimirska St. Tel. 229-17-18
Customs Committee
252055 Kiev-55, 40 Politekhnichny Provulok. Tel. 446-24-54
Committee for Science and Technology
252008 Kiev-8, 4 Shovkovichna St. Tel. 293-05-73
Committee for Oil and Gas
252050 Kiev-50, 60 Artem St. Tel. 226-31-27
Committee for Fishing and the Fishing Industry
252001 Kiev-1, 5 Trisviatitilska St. Tel. 228-30-53
Committee for Small Enterprises and Enterpreneurship
252008 Kiev-8, 3 Sadova St. Tel. 293-16-18
Committee for Standards, Metrology and Certification
252021 Kiev-21, 10 Lipska St. Tel. 226-29-71
Committee for the Food Industry
252001 Kiev-1, 1 Boris Hrinchenko St. Tel. 228-78-43
Committee for Bread Products
252003 Kiev-33, 1 Saksahansky St. Tel. 226-21-20
Committee for Nuclear and Radioactive Safety
253100 Kiev-100, 3 Supreme Rada Boulevard. Tel. 559-69-62
Committee for Consumers Rights Protection
252023 Kiev-23, 8\10 Esplanadna St. Tel. 220-05-26
Committee for the Protection of State Secrets in the Mass Media
252003 Kiev-3, 2 Prorizna St. Tel. 226-34-43
State Tax Inspection
252921 Kiev-21, 21\8 Institutska St. Tel. 226-34-27
Main Archives
252601 Kiev-110, 24 Solomianska St. Tel. 277-27-77
Department of Air Transportation
252135 Kiev-135, 14 Prospect Peremohy. Tel. 216-75-40
Directorate of Southwestern Railroads
252034 Kiev-32, 6 Mikola Lysenko St. Tel. 226-34-86
List of Major Banks in Ukraine (April-95)Ukraina 228 97 86\97 84, 244 15 33\06
Prominvestbank 226 20 32\32 74
Ukrsotsbank 269 08 36\24 53
INKO 294 92 19\87 90, 290 62 92
Privatbank (Dnipropetrivsk) (0562) 79 04 33\35
Privatbank, Kiev Branch 243 48 00
Gradobank 212 12 21, 243 48 00
Ukreximbank 226 27 45\229 80 82, 558 26 30
Vidrodzhennia 22485 74\30 90, 224 72 20
Ukrinbank 229 67 97, 228 76 37
AVAL 294 96 91, 295 86 64
Ist Ukrainian International Bank, Kiev Branch 225 73 27
Lisbank 274 30 27
Ukrcreditbank 243 48 55, 244 64 72\77
Zakhidno-Ukrainskiy Commercial Bank (0322) 75 05 20
AGIO 224 92 70, 296 19 46, 295 31 61\64
Percombank 291 86 47\62, 449 94 58
Pravex 294 82 22\85 49\65 75
Brokbusinessbank 294 64 40, 220 71 46
Brokbusinessbank 276 51 24, 228 02 31
UkrNaftaGazBank 226 26 52, 417 17 80\41 23
Kievdorbank 276 09 19
Legbank 220 42 45\75, 220 81 29\93
Dniproservicebank (0562) 47 74 75
VA-BANK 276 91 73, 244 03 40
VA-Bank 216 39 13\38 71\01 57
Nadra 228 36 72\29 01
Transbank 227 71 15
Transbank 227 27 83\75 65
Noviy (Kiev branch) 293 07 69\75 79
Noviy (Dnipropetrivsk) (0562) 782409\442246, 44 50 55
Electron-bank (Lviv) (0322) 72 37 79\39 20
ElektronBank, Kiev Branch 224 80 94
Strombank 228 82 34, 216 75 95, 211 35 85
AvtoZAZ, Kiev Branch 268 57 13
Kiev Narodniy Bank 228 74 51\39 45
Geosantris 442 43 63
Kiyivo-Pecherskiy 294 89 38, 295 93 96
Krum-bank (Simferopil) (0652) 27 53 57
Arkada 290 98 02\03
Slavutich 417 30 88\26, 417 73 18
Interbank 448 44 22
Antaris 450 93 35
ANTEK 276 50 08, 271 42 53, 276 22 27
Askold 244 54 19\07
Berlinerbank 220 83 02
Bonus 550 20 00
Christian International Bank 229 65 05\02 78
Demos 416 75 15\42 07
Deutsche Bank 290 73 01\62 66
Dnister (0322) 52 75 80
Dresdner Bank 227 95 97
Econombank (Rivne), Kiev Branch 417 61 98
EDLAND 224 55 26\21 76, 216 41 96
Energobank 229 50 64, 221 49 68
European Bank for Reconstruction & Development 291 89 77
Expobank 216 15 50, 216 60 73
Intellectbank 242 01 08\23
Intercontbank 211 06 81
Intransbank 411 73 93, 411 04 49
Continent 293 80 61\58 72
Kyivska Rus 293 80 39
LIGA 229 61 30, 228 24 03, 229 36 28, 228 4072
Ligo 417 12 47
Lviv (0322) 72 47 17
Mebliprombank 516 86 63, 517 65 53
Mriya 216 68 37, 219 26 95
Narodniy Bank 228 48 73, 295 88 23
National Bank of Ukraine 293 01 80\38 22, 291 01 22, 293 57 31
Obolon 411 06 47
Sana 416 05 57\88 09
Starokievskiy 224 31 00. 220 18 84\45 04, 225 71 08, 220 51 84
Transcredobank 416 50 62, 417 20 60
Universe 294 90 57\93 28\92 84
Universalbank 417 37 35
Westdeutsche Landesbank AG 220 92 34
Zevs 224 40 74
Zoriy (Rivne) (0362) 22 35 47
List of Major Travel & Tourist Companies in Ukraine (April-95)1. UKRINTOUR J\S Travel Company (044) 212 58 40, 212 55 70
2. SUPUTNIK J\S Company (044) 212 14 41\2586\2407
3. ZAKORDONTOURSERVICE, Firm (044) 224 69 58\229 84 13
4. PRIMEXPRESS Ltd. (0482) 25 90 74, 25 15 22
5. KYIVTOURTRANSSERVICE (044) 229 85 06
6. Suputnyk-Ukraina (044) 212 25 86
7. SAM Tourist Firm (044) 263 60 02\4376, 2649327
8. GAMALIA (044) 274 09 89\1932
9. KYIVZOVNISHTOUR (044) 212 83 73
10. POCHAYNA Ltd. Travel Co. (044) 212 20 43\228 88 46
11. Intourist-Ukraina (044) 224 00 48
12. UKRZOVNISHINTOUR Corp. (044) 224 25 42
13. AIR KIEV (044) 212 20 04\2523
14. ASKOTUR-POCHAINA (044) 229 64 21
15. CHERVONA RUTA Cruise Company (044) 293 69 09, 293 52 36
16. EUROTRAVEL, Ltd. (044) 228 50 84
17. UKRPROFTOUR J\S Company (044) 226 27 78\229 24 88
18. EXPRESS-TOUR (0322) 76 03 48\05 53
19. General tourist Agency in Kyiv Region (044) 225 30 51
20. General tourist Agency in Lviv Region (0322) 74 21 82
21. General Tourist Agency in Yalta (0654) 32 55 94
22. General tourist Agency in Odesa Region (0482) 22 13 43
22. INCOMARTOUR (044) 229 30 60, 228 11 24
23. HALINTOUR (0322) 33 72 31, 34 94 77
24. Suputnyk-Kyiv (044) 264 95 41
25. Interproftour (044) 220 98 97
26. Intourburear (044) 517 74 02
27. KIY-AVIA Travel Agency (044)274 99 26\65,22965 33
28. KOVEX Agency (044) 224 45 59\50 78
29. Krymtourist (06522) 27 26 49
30. KYIV TRAVEL 8 EXCURSIONS BUREAU (044) 229 19 23
31. KYIVTOUR, Firm (044) 221 14 20\229 31 15
32. LVIV-INTOURTRANS (0322) 35 30 71
33. PAN UKRAINE\Airservice Tourism (044) 216 68 59,2217152\72
34. PLANETA TURSERVICE Firm (044) 216 42 55, 216 26 69
35. PROFCENTER "KARPATY" (0322) 64 84 67
36. Suputnyk-Odesa (0482) 63 56 42
37. Suputnyk-Lviv (0322) 74 11 32
38. UKRAINA Travel Bureau (044) 227 67 83\2413\0662
39. BUKOVYNAINTOUR (03722) 5 14 01
40. General tourist Agency in Zakarpattya Region (03122) 3 25 72
41. Lvivtourist (0322) 76 34 69
42. Prykarpattourist (03422) 2 57 10
43. Suputnyk-Ternopil (03522) 2 93 07, 2 61 51
44. Suputnyk-Zakarpattya (03122) 3 40 76
45. Zakarpattourist (03122) 3 52 68
46. General Tourist Agency in Chernivtsy Region (03722) 4 75 10
47. General tourist Agency in Ivano-Frankivsk Region (03422) 2 57 07
48. General tourist Agency in Krym Region (6522) 7 33 86
49. General tourist Agency in Kharkiv Region (0572) 32 87 84
50. General tourist Agency in Ternopil Region (03522) 5 16 16
51. Cherkasytourist (0472) 47 51 66
52. Chernigivtourist (0462) 3 81 69
53. Chernivtsytourist (3722) 4 39 10
54. Dniprotourist (0562) 46 54 11
55. Donetsktourist (622) 92 64 84
56. General Tourist Agency in Volyn Region (03322) 4 47 58
57. General Tourist Agency in Cherkasy Region (0472) 47 31 01
58. General Tourist Agency in Chernigiv Region (0462) 95 48 28
59. General tourist Agency in Dnipropetrivsk Region (0562) 45 53 11
60. General Tourist Agency in Donetsk Region (0622) 92 72 00
61. General Tourist Agency in Kherson Region (05522) 2 26 19
62. General Tourist Agency in Khmelnitskiy Region (03822) 6 93 67
63. General Tourist Agency in Kirovograd Region (05222) 4 65 03
64. General Tourist Agency in Lugansk Region (0642) 53 05 96
65. General Tourist Agancy in Mykolayiv Region (0512) 36 20 48
66. General Tourist Agancy in Poltava Region (05322) 3 57 47
67. General Tourist Agancy in Rivne Region (03622) 2 01 77
68. General Tourist Agancy in Sumy Region (0542) 32 04 02
69. General Tourist Agency in Vinnytsya Region (04322) 35 63 15
70. General Tourist Agency in Zaporizhzhya Region (0612) 33 05 54
71. General tourist Agency in Zhytomir Region (0412) 22 79 47
72. Kharkivtourist (0572) 22 80 32
73. Khersontourist (05522) 5 57 66
74. Khmelnitsktourist (3822) 2 41 28
75. Kirovogradtourist (0522) 24 29 88
76. KYIVOBLTOURIST (044) 416 41 04\53 14
77. Lugansktourist (0642) 54 44 39
78. Mykolayivtourist (0512) 34 95 40
79. Poltavatourist (05322) 2 25 41
80. Rivnetourist (03622) 2 32 10
81. Sumytourist (0542) 27 31 44
82. Suputnyk-Cherkasy (0472) 47 29 40
83. Suputnyk-Chernigiv (04622) 7 46 30
84. Suputnyk-Chernivtsy (0722) 2 81 83
85. Suputnyk-Donetsk (0622) 92 65 94
86. Suputnyk-Kherson (05522) 2 33 04, 4 11 30
87. Suputnyk-Khmelnitskiy (03222) 6 94 94, 6 93 03
88. Suputnyk-Lugansk (0642) 53 11 74
89. Suputnyk-Mykolayiv (0512) 35 99 48
90. Suputnyk-Poltava (05322) 7 36 77
91. Suputnyk-Rivne (03622) 2 05 21, 2 69 44
92. Suputnyk-Sumy (05422) 22 61 45\34
93. Suputnyk-Vinnytsya (04322) 2 47 39
94. Suputnyk-Volyn (03322) 2 47 01
95. Ternopiltourist (03522) 2 72 65
96. Vinnytsyatourist (04322) 2 59 59
97. Volyntourist (03322) 3 04 11
98. Zaporizhtourist (0612) 33 03 31
99. Zhytomyrtourist (0412) 34 25 33 40
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