Council of Europe Chief to Present $48-Mln Action Plan for Ukraine

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland will pay a two-day visit to Kiev starting Tuesday to meet top Ukrainian officials and launch a 2015-2017 Action Plan for Ukraine worth 45 million euros ($48 million), a press release at the Council of Europe website said.

In Kiev, Jagland is expected to meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Groysman, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and other government officials and civil society figures, the press release posted on the Council of Europe website Monday read.

The Ukraine plan, approved in January, is a joint initiative of the CoE and Ukrainian authorities. The plan pledges support to Ukraine as a member of CoE, promoting democratic reforms and boosting human rights as well as rule of law.

The internal conflict in Ukraine, which escalated after Kiev launched a military operation against eastern Ukrainian independence supporters in April 2014, has caused, according to the United Nations, a "severe humanitarian catastrophe" as well as impacting the country's economy.

The country's authorities tried to rescue the deteriorating economy with international loans. Ukraine currently owes billions of dollars to international creditors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Ukraine has vowed to implement a series of economic reforms in exchange for the $5-billion credit it received from the IMF as part of the international bailout. The drastic measures include reductions of government spending and changes in the tax system.