Sailors had to reconfirm their diplomas by taking examinations, a process that cost each sailor six months salary and engendered a useless recertification industry that extracted $120-150 million a year from sailors. The Rada endorsed a bill abolishing the requirement. Saakashvili, the former governor of Odesa region, wrote: “Annually sailors are bringing $2-3 billion to the Ukrainian economy so it is crucial to make it easier for them to work.”