UKRAINE

Ukraine is a country in Central and Eastern Europe with a population of 45 million 962 thousand people. It consists of 24 regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Capital - Kiev.

Main Law is the Constitution and the state language - Ukrainian.

Ukrainian head of state is the president, who is elected by the citizens of Ukraine by secret ballot for a term of five years. From 25 February 2010 the President of Ukraine is Viktor Yanukovych.

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament) is the only legislative body in the country. It has one chamber with 450 deputies. Vladimir Litvin is a chairman of Verkhovna Rada.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (Government) - the highest body in the system of executive power. Prime Minister of Ukraine (from 3 March 2010 - Nikolay Azarov) appointed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and by the President of Ukraine.

Legal proceedings are carried out by the Constitutional Court and courts of general jurisdiction. The highest judicial body is the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

Ukraine - a country with a developed industry, which includes the following industries: heavy machinery, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, shipbuilding, motor industry, production of farm machinery, equipment for the petroleum and chemical industry, etc. The main article of Ukrainian export - metals and their products (32, 7%), on the second place is the production of machinery and equipment - 12.5%, in the third – mineral raw materials (9.5%).

In the commodity structure of Ukrainian import predominate minerals (34.5%) and mechanical engineering - 13.6%.

The main trade partners of Ukraine - Russia, Germany, Turkey, Poland and China.

Ukraine is a member of the World Trade Organization, which in 2008 allowed it to start negotiations with the EU on a creation of free trade zone.

Ukraine has diplomatic relations with 177 countries. Minister of Foreign Affairs - Konstantin Grischenko (from March 2010).

The list of the world cultural and natural heritage list UNESCO includes 3 Ukrainian objects: National Reserve "Saint Sophia Cathedral" and the national reserve "Kiev Pechersk Lavra" (under the same registration number), the historical center of Lviv, 4 stations of Struve Geodetic Arc.