A state program for the development of the Ukrainian language will be approved soon, and the 2013 national budget will foresee funding for it, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

"A special group is working today, a program for the development of the Ukrainian language has been drawn up, and after consideration by experts it will be approved by the government and respectively funded by the budget next year. We will do so every year," the president said at a meeting with the clergy and religious organizations on Wednesday.

The president also noted that work on amendments to the law on the principles of the state language policy, which was passed by the Verkhovna Rada, is coming to an end. He stressed that "this is a sensitive issue for our society."