Former PM Dzurinda to become advisor to Ukraine’s President in undertaking reforms

Two-times Slovak Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda is to become a foreign advisor to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. "I received the offer on Tuesday, and after a short consideration I decided to accept it," said Dzurinda for the teraz.sk website. The crux of Dzurinda's work is to revolve around helping Ukraine undertake key political and economic reforms. "Ukraine wants to be part of the West, and is in need of major modernisation," he said adding that the story of Slovakia is inspirational in this regard, as the country overcame an uneasy period of economic transformation. "Ukraine needs to export, not only import, thereby increasing its competitiveness," he added. Dzurinda also rejected notions that Ukraine has close to no chance of success in this. Dzurinda's former long-time aide, two-time deputy prime minister and two-time finance minister Ivan Mikloš recently became an advisor to Ukraine's Finance and Economy Ministers. Both Dzurinda and Mikloš still sit as independent MPs in the Slovak Parliament.