European businessmen still concerned about extent of corruption in Ukraine

Corruption in Ukraine impedes reform, President of the European Business Association Tomas Fiala has said.

"Deep-rooted corruption and personal interests are paralyzing the implementation of your initiatives and preventing businesses from working, investing and creating jobs," he said at a plenary meeting of the council of domestic and foreign investors under the chairmanship of the Ukrainian president in Kyiv on Thursday.

Fiala said that the fight against corruption would be very difficult and that it would be impossible to overcome it in the next few years without significant government downsizing and wage increases to government officials.

"In order to establish the pace of reform and investor confidence, in the next few months it will be necessary to approve pension reform, continue to increase tariffs to prime cost, and resume cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. This process has slightly delayed in recent months," he said.

Fiala said that Ukraine could become one of the 20 most developed countries after it fully implements of the reforms initiated by the president.

He also added that the European Business Association was ready to cooperate with Ukraine on this path.