John Tefft, Hans-Juergen Gaymzet, Lee Turner and Jacques Faure

Form the left to right: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine Jacques Faure, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Great Britain to Ukraine Lee Turner, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Ukraine Hans-Juergen Gaymzet and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of USA to Ukraine John Tefft during the meeting with foreign Ambassadors and heads of observer missions, in Kiev, on Tuesday, October 26, 2010. The meeting was dedicated to the October 31 elections to local authorities in Ukraine."I am confident that both central and regional authorities will do everything to ensure that these elections are conducted fairly, transparently and democratically. We are interested in this," said Viktor Yanukovych."I warned the officials at all levels, that if they allow any violations during the elections, I will take very strong measures," he said. In his speech the President stressed the importance of the upcoming election for our country. "These elections are very important given that the budgetary year is ending, the Parliament is working on the Tax Code, which in fact, is a tax reform. We have set ourselves the task to conduct this reform this year and adopt the new budget based on the new Tax Code. These elections are also very important in terms of consolidation of government in Ukraine, because presidential election was held this year, the majority was formed in the Parliament, the reforms have started in the country, and in the basis of all these actions is the program of President Yanukovych, which was supported by the Ukrainian people," he said. Photo by Mikhail Markiv / POOL / UNIAN