First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Arbuzov has said he hopes that the Verkhovna Rada will soon adopt a bill on amendments to some legislative acts to reform the national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy, which was registered in the parliament on April 26.

"I can tell you why this bill was drafted and what the government's expectations for its adoption are: this needs to be done to continue the reform of the industry and this move was dictated by the wishes of the European Union in order to sort out the industry," Arbuzov told journalists in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"The bill has been submitted, and I hope that the Verkhovna Rada will be unanimous in its decision-making, and will adopt all the laws that the government has submitted soon," the first vice premier said.

Asked about how the adoption of this bill will affect the talks with Russia on the reduction of the natural gas price, Arbuzov said that this law doesn't pursue this specific purpose, and that it will be up to Russia to decide on this matter.

As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers proposed that the parliament lift a ban on the privatization of state enterprises that are subsidiaries of National JSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and whose core business is gas transportation via trunk pipelines and storing gas in underground facilities, as well as enterprises, institutions and organizations formed as a result of the reorganization of such companies. The cabinet also suggests allowing the leasing of trunk pipelines.

This is stipulated in bill No. 2937 registered on April 26, 2013, which amends some acts of the law, with the aim of reforming Naftogaz.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that Ukraine was considering the transfer of Ukraine's gas transport system to leasing in order to raise funds to modernize and maintain the pipelines and guarantee sufficient amounts of gas transit.

Ukrainian authorities earlier said that the creation of a trilateral consortium with the participation of Russian and European companies on a parity basis is appropriate and will let the country raise funds to modernize the transport system and boost its reliability and throughput capability.