Ukrainian PM calls for greater industrial competitiveness

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov called Wednesday for more efforts to boost the Ukrainian industry's competitiveness in the global market. "We should fundamentally improve the quality of our goods, enhance workforce productivity and modernize technology so that our industry can play a bigger role in world markets," Azarov told a cabinet meeting. More industrial output could stimulate the country's economic growth and unleash the potential for social improvements, the prime minister said. He stressed the importance of modernizing the country's industrial infrastructure when key sectors such as metallurgy and chemicals were confronted with low global demand. Industries that had been upgraded to market requirements were growing, even in an unfavorable economic environment, Azarov said. In the first 11 months of 2013, Ukraine's industrial production shrank 5 percent year-on-year while its IT industry output doubled and pharmaceutical production rose 18 percent, Azarov said.