President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree on declaring 2016 as the year of the English language in Ukraine.

According to the presidential press service, Poroshenko made the decision "given the role of English as the language of international communication in order to facilitate its study to expand citizens' access to the world's economic, social, educational and cultural opportunities offered by the knowledge and use of English, and ensure the integration of Ukraine into the European political, economic, scientific and educational space, in support of the Go Global program, which defines studying English as a priority of development strategy.

According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers was instructed to develop and adopt a set of measures for 2016 and subsequent years to invigorate studying of English by citizens, providing, in particular, the organization of English courses at universities, promoting the expansion of teaching in higher education institutions in English, and increasing the network of study groups in extracurricular educational institutions.

According to the decree, it is necessary to carry out an assessment of the level of English of civil servants and organize English language courses. Studying English should be included in training programs for civil servants and local government officials.