US Charge d'Affaires in Ukraine Kristina A. Kvien urged the Ukrainian authorities to pass additional bylaws to provide anti-corruption guarantees of the land reform.
Kvien astated this at the all-Ukrainian forum Ukraine 30. Land.
She stressed that adopting the law on lifting the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land was an important step towards the establishing of market principles. This will give land owners more flexibility in using the property they own.
"We applaud the President's commitment to this important reform and look forward to seeing it accomplished after years of stalemate," Kvien added.
She also positively noted the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of important laws on the land market in recent weeks. However, she said, more needs to be done for land reform to succeed, including fair implementation.
It is about adopting a draft law that creates partial loan guarantees for small farmers. This will allow every Ukrainian to take part in the farming business.
In particular, Kvien stressed that the government and the media should initiate a public awareness campaign on land reform. Owners and societies need to know their rights and how to protect them. The United States, the European Union and partners from the bank are ready to support the Ukrainian authorities in implementing the land reform.
Also, Matti Maasikas, European Union Ambassador to Ukraine, recalled the importance of the anti-corruption audit of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (StateGeoCadastre) in order to prevent abuses within the land reform.
According to him, the first thing to do is:
- to adopt three resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers and to begin development of software for implementation, in particular, automatic verification of the ownership limit of 100 hectares;
- launch a campaign to inform land owners and users of their rights and opportunities;
- to begin the development of a public monitoring system for the land sale, a list of transactions and requests for legal support related to the land market.
In addition, Maasikas added that farmers should have access to credit initially with the launch of the land market.