Today, 4 November, 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted for the bill of the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine “On foreign broadcasting system of Ukraine” in the first reading, submitted by the Government to the Parliament on 07.13.2015 under number 2334.
Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine Yurii Stets, before the voting, made a video presentation of the Multimedia foreign broadcasting platform of Ukraine (MFBPU), and informed about support of the Coordination Council under the Ukrainian World Congress, which will help to promote Ukraine foreign broadcasting worldwide.
Furthermore, the Minister spoke about a number of meetings with ambassadors of foreign countries (Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Georgia, and Israel), where questions concerning distribution of MFBPU content in these countries were discussed.
Yurii Stets: “The question of foreign broadcasting -is the state’s question, not of individual faction. This is the future of Ukraine. I ask the people’s deputies to support this bill”.
Victoria Syumar, chairman of the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy, in her speech stressed that the experts, who gathered in the Committee, believe that the television channel is compliant with world standards. Chairman of the Committee also stressed the need for approval of the bill.
Following the voting results, the bill was adopted as a basis in the first reading. After the first reading the specialized Committee will make proposals of people’s deputies, and the second reading of the bill will be submitted as urgent. This was stressed by the VRU Chairman Volodymyr Groisman.
Recall that 1 October, 2015, the Multimedia foreign broadcasting platform of Ukraine was launched, legal basis of which will be the above-mentioned bill. After signing the bill by the President of Ukraine MIP will complete foreign broadcasting reform of Ukraine.
The purpose of the bill is to ensure access of foreign audiences, including Ukrainian diaspora to objective, relevant and good information about the developments in Ukraine, to form and maintain a positive image of Ukraine in the world by timely, objective information about events in Ukraine, the official domestic and foreign policy and position of the state, the activity of state bodies.