President Volodymyr Zelensky will soon announce a cabinet reshuffle and consolidation of Ukraine’s ministries in an effort to eliminate waste and corruption, according to people familiar with his plans, Bloomberg reports.
The move comes after Ukraine unveiled a post-war reconstruction plan last week that will be backed by hundreds of billions of dollars from the world’s biggest economies.
The new administrative structure will shrink the number of ministries to about 12 from the current 20, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The total number of ministries could be cut by as much as half.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry will be redesigned to include planning for possible membership in the European Union. It is unclear whether current Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will remain in that role.
The ministry of digital transformation will be among those leading the effort. Details of the reshuffle have been reported by Ukrainian local media.
In his late-night video address to Ukrainians on Saturday, Zelensky announced “important news” in the coming week, “including from government officials.”
The president fired several Ukrainian ambassadors on Saturday, including those appointed to Germany, Hungary and India. New candidates are preparing, he said.
After last week’s reconstruction conference in Lugano, Switzerland, an adviser to Zelensky said Ukraine “means it” when it comes to reforms, according to Agence France-Presse.
Eliminating corruption and strengthening the rule of law was one of the key principles set out in the so-called Lugano Declaration.
“We want to show the world that we have a road map and a plan that is manageable and can be executed and implemented at some stage,” Alexander Rodnyansky told AFP.
Transparency International, an anti-corruption watchdog, ranked Ukraine 122nd out of 180 countries in its 2021 Perceptions of Corruption Index.
The first place, i.e. the least corrupt, was shared by Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, while South Sudan is in 180th place. Russia is ranked below Ukraine, in 136th place.
Source: Capital
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