Cabinet re-elects five incumbent members of Naftogaz board for up to year – PM

The Ukrainian government at the Wednesday meeting on re-elected for up to one year five incumbent members of the supervisory board of Naftogaz Ukrainy, who have resigned since May 14 due to the conflict over the change of the board's chair, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

"Thanks to the Supervisory Board for the constructive and government decision to continue its work, ensuring the stable operation of the largest state-owned company," the head of government said in his Telegram channel.

He separately thanked Naftogaz Supervisory Board's Chairperson Clare Spottiswoode, who during her speech at the Cabinet of Ministers noted the importance of teamwork for better transformation of the company.

The prime minister said the government plans to hold an absolutely transparent competition for the positions of members of the supervisory board and for the position of chairperson of the board.

"The government remains committed to further reform of corporate governance according to the best world standards, where not only rights and obligations, but also responsibility for work are clearly defined," Shmyhal said.

In turn, Spottiswoode said at the meeting that the members of the supervisory board had accepted a proposal for reappointment for up to a year on the terms of previous contracts and on the basis of a roadmap that they presented to the government last week.

"We will carefully consider any good ideas and changes in the implementation of our roadmap that the head of the board proposes to us. In assessing these ideas, we will be guided by the fact that they make sense for Naftogaz, for the country and are achievable. We are mindful of the company's contribution to finances of the country," the chairperson of the supervisory board said.

In addition to her, two more independent members of the supervisory board were re-elected, namely, Bruno Lescois (France) and Ludo van der Heyden (Belgium), as well as two representatives of the government, Natalia Boiko and Yulia Kovaliv. Since March 2020, the Supervisory Board also includes Robert Bensch (the United States), as a representative of the state of Ukraine, but he was not allowed to attend the meetings due to a possible conflict of interests.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua