Yulia Timoshenko and Aleksandr Oleynik

Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko shaking hands with Kherson Machine-Building Plant (KMBP) owner Oleksander Oliynyk, in the center, before the beginning of a session for issues of the situation at the KMBP, Tuesday, March 3, 2009. The Prime Minister will initiate a draft legislation to return inefficiently working enterprises to the state ownership. According to her, the companies will be nationalized only if the labor collective agrees. The Prime Minister pointed out that before its privatization, KMBP was a leader of the native machine-building and was by 100% loaded with orders for producing grain harvester combines. In their turn, KMBP representatives disclosed at the session that the arrears on salary made up 5.5mn hryvnias [US $ 0.61 mn], and arrears to the state budget – nearly 6 million hryvnias [US $0.66 mn]. Photo by Oleksander Prokopenko/POOL/UNIAN