Ukraine's PM announces one-third reduction in number of ministries

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said this at a press conference dedicated to the government's four years of work, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The president announced that we are working to change the format of the government, i.e. reducing the number of ministries. We want to reduce the number of ministries by a third. We want to reduce the number of civil servants. We have already started to do this, and this year 20,000 civil service vacancies have been reduced," Shmyhal said.

According to him, all auxiliary administrative functions should be concentrated in the so-called Government Center, which is currently being created.

"The ministries should have a small number of high-quality, highly skilled specialists who will form the appropriate state policy. The Government Center will have to provide appropriate legal steps, support in the personnel and accounting spheres. But the Government Center should also qualitatively and quickly prepare the documents that are needed for a certain ministry in terms of documentation," Shmyhal said.

Shmyhal said that the Ukrainian government should be reduced to 15-16 ministries.

"We are working to leave an optimized Cabinet. What we are currently working on is that the number of ministers should be 15 or at most 16, and accordingly the number of ministries should be 15-16. This is the optimal amount to be more coordinated and fast. We need to be less bureaucratic, we need to reduce a certain number of people," Shmyhal said.

At the same time, he noted that he would not yet announce which ministries will continue to operate and in what form.

He also said that he was not ready to talk about any personnel changes in the government now.