It is very important to fight against corruption that has existed in Ukraine for many years. It was cultivated in Ukraine and it's a very serious challenge, so here we decided to take a systematic approach. There is a two-fold answer to this question. On one hand, we have to fight in criminal terms. We should bring to justice everyone who commits corruption-related offences. On the other hand, there are the institution-related changes that allow us to eliminate the roots of corruption.
As far as the first part is concerned, in 2015, when I was the Speaker of the Parliament, we started amending the national legislation. We created quite open national legislation that demonstrates its efficiency to date. We needed to detect corruption-related offences. All the necessary laws have been approved and they have come into force.
The second step was the creation of anti-corruption institutions that are designed to fight corruption. For the first time in the history of our state, we created an absolutely independent national anti-corruption bureau that investigates corruption. Also, we have created a national agency for the prevention of corruption. Its mission is to analyze situations and to conduct scrutiny and monitor the way of life of public officials. We have opened all the public registries now, so it's easy to obtain information about the beneficiaries and owners of property. Previously, this data was closed. We introduced the electronic declaration system, which is quite meticulous and which raises the bar for officials and for those who hold public positions. In addition, we have created an independent anti-corruption prosecutor's office. There was a special procedure for creating this office. Today, it is established and unfolding.
Now we need to resolve the third problem. That is the creation of a fair and just judiciary. In this context, we need to rework the Supreme Court system. We are recreating the Supreme Court in accordance with the constitutional amendments approved last year. Now there is a new initiative to create anti-corruption courts. The President's position—and this is his constitutional mandate—is to introduce a bill to establish the new anti-corruption courts in the near future. All the institutions will be created, will be in place, and then we'll have to fight corruption.
With regard to the institutional changes, as I said, we are working to pass systematic decisions to eliminate the roots of corruption. For example, in August of 2016 we launched a system of transparent public procurement. By the way, the agreement on free trade with Canada allows Canadian companies to take part in Ukraine's public procurement, so now we spend billions in an absolutely transparent manner. Previously, it was a very corrupt and closed system.
We eliminated corruption in energy with regard to gas pricing. It used to be a very corrupt system. We also implemented large-scale deregulation and we removed various obstacles to the development of a national economy and business. In addition, back in 2015 we launched an important reform, for the decentralization of power, which is another important anti-corruption change.
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