“We will implement the best business practices in the system of management of the state assets,” Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Oleksandr Sayenko said during the Third International Corporate Directors Forum.

Today, the state is the largest asset owner. It currently owns 3,500 different enterprises, most of which are ineffective due to corruption, opacity, most of them are in the stage of liquidation, bankruptcy or generates losses for the state budget.

The Minister noted that it was very important for the Government to implement the Roadmap for corporate governance reform of the state-owned enterprises sector. “The state should clearly indicate which enterprises will remain in the state’s ownership, which companies need to be privatized or concessioned, and which should be liquidated. This document gave us a vision of how we are moving with this or that enterprise“, the Minister said.

Oleksandr Sayenko drew attention to the importance of establishing an independent professional supervisory board for enterprises owned by the state. By the way, for the first time, state-owned enterprises are formed with a majority of independent members of supervisory boards. This allows to eliminate a certain institutional conflict when the ministry establishes rules of the game, forms a policy and simultaneously manages the state enterprise.

The Minister recalled that the updated Nominating Committee, whose decision he represents at the Government’s meetings, this year has formed supervisory boards for three large state enterprises – “Ukrainian Railways”, “Ukrenergo” and “Ukrposhta”. Currently, the selection of members of the Supervisory Boards of the “Administration of Seaports of Ukraine” and the International Airport “Borispol” is underway. Next year, at least five companies that are important for the economy will get the independent management bodies.

Equally important is the privatization process of state-owned enterprises. Initially, the adopted Privatization Act creates effective mechanisms for the sale of the state property. These are electronic auctions for small privatization through the platform Prozorro and the possibility of attracting investment advisers with world names to prepare large privatization objects. “Almost every major object of the state property has a long and, unfortunately, very problematic history. Therefore, attracting investment advisers to prepare for the sale of these enterprises is the only right way, “the Minister noted.

“I am pleased that the reform of the management of state-owned enterprises is among the main priorities of the Government for the next year. We are ready to share the experience; we are ready to learn from you, we invite you to participate in contests to supervisory boards and are ready for any expert discussions to come out together on the best model of corporate governance reform”, Oleksandr Sayenko said in conclusion.