The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko congratulated all the participants and organizers of the contest in the official letter. In his congratulatory letter, the President stressed the urgency of such an event in the context of reforming vocational education and wished everyone good health, abundance and peaceful sky.

While opening the contest the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Hroisman said: "We have to reform the system of vocational education to enable every student in this system to become a professional and highly qualified specialist. It is necessary to change the curricula, modernize them, revamp vocational education to every young person who graduates from a vocational institution could find his/her place in the real economic area"

The Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Liliia Hrynevych, said in her speech that the reform of vocational education is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the government in general.

The first Vice-Rector Nataliia Prytulska greeted the guests and participants on behalf of the Rector of Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics. She said that domestic education has to keep up with the times in order to ensure the competitiveness of Ukrainian graduates.

Stefan Prashl, Vice President of WorldSkills International, Chairman of the Committee on Competition, and Serhiy Rybak, CEO of WorldSkills Ukraine, also welcomed the audience.

WorldSkills Ukraine will be held in our country for the first time under the auspices of the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, the State Employment Service and other organizations. 150 participants from 25 regions of the country will take part in the competition. Winners of WorldSkills Ukraine will be able to participate in WorldSkills International, to be held in Abu Dhabi – the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in October 2017.

The competition will be held in Kyiv. Participants in 11 professional skills’ areas will be assessed in 8 different institutions, including Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, National Technical University of Ukraine Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Kyiv vocational school of construction and public utilities, etc.