President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva.

The press service of the head of state said on Wednesday evening that Zelensky thanked Georgieva for supporting Ukraine in the difficult year of the pandemic.

"The $2.1 billion tranche we received helped us support people, SMEs, our medical industry during several lockdown periods," the press service said, quoting the head of state.

The parties also discussed progress in the implementation of the current IMF Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), namely, Ukraine's implementation of the SBA benchmarks. This is about two key bills, which are aimed at enhancing corporate governance in banks, as well as amendments to the Law of Ukraine on the High Council of Justice, the Law of Ukraine on the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.

"Ukraine's position remains unchanged: relations with the IMF are very important for us, and we will continue implementing agreements with international partners," Zelensky said.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the progress of reforms and institutional changes that are taking place in Ukraine, in particular, regarding the launch of the land market, reform in the infrastructure sector, the bill on de-oligarchization passed by the parliament at first reading.

The head of state said that he keeps the implementation of the judicial reform under personal control and makes every effort to implement it successfully.

In addition, Zelensky and Georgieva discussed the bill on the National Bank of Ukraine, which is being developed with the participation of international partners and will be considered by the Verkhovna Rada after the resumption of its work this autumn, as well as the adoption of the law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine at the final reading.

The pace of Ukraine's economic recovery, including the implementation of Ukraine's state budget and specific indicators of its growth, were discussed separately. Agreements were reached on intensifying the joint work of representatives of the Ukrainian government and the IMF.

The President invited the IMF Managing Director to visit Ukraine and personally discuss the next steps of fruitful cooperation.