Ukraine's new cabinet takes office

KIEV - Members of Ukraine's new cabinet led by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov took oath on Monday, pledging to take steps to improve economy of the country and living conditions of its people.

"Economic growth is the main task of the new government. It will ensure the growth of social standards," Azarov said at a meeting of the cabinet, while stressing the need to improve country's trade balance, to produce more competitive products and to promote Ukrainian goods in foreign markets.

Azarov, who resigned with his cabinet early this month following the October parliamentary election, was later re- appointed prime minister by President Viktor Yanukovych, with approval by the country's parliament on December 13. ?An ally of Yanukovych, the 64-year-old political veteran first became prime minister under President Viktor Yanukovych's presidency in February 2010. ?

Earlier on Monday, President Yanukovych appointed 21 members of the 23-seat cabinet, with the posts for chief of the Industrial Policy Ministry and of the Ministry of Culture remaining undecided. He named Sergey Arbuzov, former governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, the country's central bank, as the first deputy prime minister in the new government.

The president also named Yury Boyko, the former energy and coal minister, former foreign affairs minister Kostiantyn Gryschenko, as well as Oleksander Vilkul, the former head of eastern Dnepropetrovsk Region State Administration, to be deputy prime ministers.