OREANDA-NEWS. September 22, 2010. Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov gave the Singapore delegation led by Minister Mentor of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew an update on the program of reforms of President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, performed by the Ukrainian Government.

"Ukraine has initiated serious reforms. Thus, it was adopted a fundamental law on the judicial system, which will create a guarantee of independent fair trial. The State has begun the reorganization of the state judicial system", said Mykola Azarov at today's meeting with Lee Kuan Yew. According to him, it will remove the issue of corruption in the courts and make them independent.

Moreover, underlined the PM, it has adopted a new Budget Code, which allows to decentralize the financial management system. According to him, we have almost ready agreed draft Tax Code: "Today, at the meeting of the Government we have considered the final version of the Tax Code".

Mykola Azarov said that according to the draft Tax Code the total number of taxes in Ukraine will reduce by more than twice. "The main tax - income tax- will reduce from 25% to 19%, and within four years it will drop to 16%. Also within four years VAT will reduce to 17%. There will be tax holidays for newly established enterprises and small businesses. Aircraft, shipbuilding enterprises and light industry will be exempted from income tax", informed the Prime Minister of Ukraine. However, as emphasized Mykola Azarov, it is important that the Tax Code will remove the burdensome administration of the tax system. "Our aim is a liberal, transparent tax system to create an attractive investment climate", said the Ukrainian PM

According to Mykola Azarov, under the reform program of President Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine will be reformed the health care system: "It is not only to modernize the health system, i.e. equip our clinics with modern medical facilities, but also to introduce effective insurance medicine".

The Ukrainian PM informed that the education will be also reformed.

"The country began to implement reforms: difficult, sometimes unpopular, but extremely necessary for accelerated development", emphasized Mykola Azarov. He noted that, while reforming, Ukraine, in particular, would learn from Singapore: "We see an example of your country: what it was 50 years ago, and what it has become. So we have a wonderful example to follow, and we hope that our reforms will be successful. We need political stability to reach this goal".

In turn, the Minister Mentor of Singapore has confirmed that he also considers the stability and confidence of the domestic policy as a prerequisite of successful reforms and expressed confidence that Ukraine is fully capable to change completely and join the ranks of the developed countries within the next decade.