Jurij Melnyk
Date of Birth: 05.08.1962
Place of Birth. Education. Native of the village of Verkhnyachka in the Khristinovka district of the Cherkassy region. In 1985, he graduated from the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy (in the specialty of Zootechnics). From 1989 to 1992, he was a doctoral student at the Ukrainian Institute of Animal Breeding of the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR. Candidate of Agricultural Sciences.
Career. From 1985 to 1989, Yurii Melnyk was the head of the dairy complex of the research enterprise of the Agricultural Institute of Bila Tserkva.
From 1992 to 1996, after his doctorate, he was a senior researcher, head of the breeding department, and first deputy chairman of the presidium of the Production and Scientific Association 'Ukraine' of the Ministry of Agriculture.
From 1996 to 1997, he was the CEO of the National Association of Animal Breeding 'Ukrplemobiedinydzhennia'.
From 1997 to 1998, he was the head of the main department for the production and marketing of livestock products of the Ministry of Agriculture.
From 1998 to 2000, he was the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine.
From 2000 to 2002, he was the head of the Livestock Product Markets Department and the Main State Breeding Office of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ukraine.
From 2002 to 2003, he was the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ukraine.
From 2003 to 2005, he was the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine.
From July to September 2005, he was an advisor to Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko.
From September 2005 to August 2006, he was the Deputy Prime Minister for Agricultural and Food Industry Issues in the government of Yuri Yekhanurov.
From August 2006 to December 2007, he was the Minister of Agriculture in the government of Viktor Yanukovych.
From December 2007 to March 2010, he continued as the Minister of Agriculture in the second government of Yulia Timoshenko.
Since June 2010, he has been the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Miratorg Agro Holding (Chairman of the Board and majority shareholder - Yuri Kosyuk).
On July 3, 2014, Yurii Melnyk was appointed General Director of Agro-Holding Miratorg. The majority shareholder of the company, Yuri Kosyuk, who had led the company since its founding in 1998, left his position as chairman of the board following President Petro Poroshenko's announcement of his appointment as Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.
Views and Evaluations. Yurii Melnyk can be considered a sort of record holder among those in power: remaining a member of the government in three consecutive cabinets is a rare achievement.
As Ukrainska Pravda wrote, Yurii Melnyk is a creature of the secretariat of President Viktor Yushchenko, specifically of the head of the State Administration Igor Tarasiuk, who is not indifferent to the situation in the agricultural industry. The head of the CIS is reportedly connected with the Miratorg holding, known in part for its brand Nasha Ryaba.
Both were long-time members of the Ukrainian People's Party of Yuri Kostenko (possibly still are). However, when forming the current cabinet, the UWP recommended a completely different candidate for the post of Minister of Agriculture.
Another interesting fact: in August 2006, Yurii Melnyk joined Yanukovych's government over the contingent... of the Communist Party. By the way, in this cabinet, he might have been partially a 'foreign element'. According to one version of the 'regional' coalition, formed by the Party of Regions, it seemed impossible to leave the agricultural sphere outside of their control, so they revived the post of agricultural deputy prime minister in October 2006, which they assigned to their proven 'Regional' Viktor Slauta.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture advocates for a radical increase in private capital in the agricultural industry and the creation of a transparent market for agricultural land. However, he believes that the turnover of land in the first 10-20 years of such a market's existence should occur exclusively between Ukrainian citizens.
Awards. Corresponding member of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences (since 2002). Laureate of the State Prize for Science and Technology (2004).
Family. The politician is married. He has two daughters.
Yurii Melnyk's father-in-law is Mikhail Zubets, President of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences, who most recently served as a deputy from the 'Flower' and was one of the first to switch to the side of the anti-crisis coalition composed of the regions' parties - Communists. In the autumn of 2007, he returned to parliament as number 174 on the Party of Regions list.
04.08.2023