President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy states that as President he strives to build a successful, fair, safe and comfortable country with high social standards and partnerships with other states. He said this at the beginning of a press conference.
The President noted that the meeting with the media is taking place on the territory of Antonov State Enterprise, where the An-178 aircraft is being built for the Ukrainian army.
"One of the three aircraft that the state ordered from Antonov for the modern Ukrainian, powerful army for the first time since independence. And this is the essence of my vision of Ukraine and of what is happening - we must remember the past, understand where and in what state we are today and what we will do in the future. We must think and build the future, build our independence, build our Ukraine," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
"The question is not to complete the Mriya aircraft. I would like to talk about it in a broader sense. The question is not only about the aircraft, the question is to build the country of dreams, to raise our country as high as Antonov rises, and to keep it at the height of other powerful, democratic, civilized countries. Therefore, my vision is clear: what we will build, what we are already doing, but in the broadest sense of the word. To build, to complete, and sometimes to start building some industries, unfortunately, from scratch,” the Head of State told.
The President called de-oligarchization the number one priority.
"We are building a country without oligarchs. I think you already feel our first steps, which I have been preparing for for a long time, and now you see the results. A country for forty million citizens, not for a hundred of Forbes. A country where the state really helps business and big business doesn’t live at the expense of the state budget," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
The President called the protection of national security and the interests of the state an issue that is no less important.
"Today we are building a country that is not waiting only for the sanctions policy of other states as it used to be, although we are grateful to them, but independently defends its sovereignty and carries out a powerful sanctions policy within the country against propagandists, smugglers, crime bosses, thieves in law, tax evaders, alcohol industry representatives - there are quite a lot of them," the President said.
Work is underway to ensure that everyone in the country is equal before the law, the Head of State stressed. In his opinion, this is the direction where everything is built from scratch - judicial reform is underway: the Anticorruption Court, the Constitutional Court, the preparation of a number of important laws, most of which, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have already been agreed, in particular with international partners.
Among the steps moving the country forward, the President mentioned the creation of a "state in a smartphone", due to which today dozens of online services are already being received by 10 million Ukrainian citizens.
"We are moving forward. It is convenient, fast, and most importantly - without corruption," the President stressed.
"We are building a country that is building. And this is also seen by Ukrainian citizens, and I feel it. This is important for all of us. It's not about hundreds of kilometers of roads. Thousands of kilometers of new roads have been built or repaired, hundreds of schools, kindergartens, stadiums. Today we are building airports, checkpoints, administrative service centers, and much more. By the way, planes as well,” the Head of State said.
In addition, the President added that conditions are being created when "the land belongs to the people" is not a slogan, but a reform. A number of relevant laws have already been adopted.
"Instead of thousands of dirty words, tractors near Bankova, Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers, we handed over thousands of hectares to people on the ground. These are real actions, not just words," he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also stated that he seeks to build a country where there is no poverty. According to him, the increase in the minimum wage, the introduction of programs for pensioners through which they receive additional funds, the support for businesses, including during the COVID-19 crisis and quarantine, the introduction of programs in the healthcare system are the steps that bring us closer to this goal.
"But the main priority is to build a country without war. And it's a really difficult path, not very fast… We understand that peace must be lasting, eternal, and it depends on the strength of our army. It must be strong everywhere - land, water, airspace, and now we see that there are great threats in cyberspace as well," the President summed up.
