Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Arbuzov said Monday that the government will strengthen efforts to protect foreign investor's rights and interests.

"The investment climate improvement and the protection of foreign companies' property will be guaranteed by the state program of economic development acceleration for 2013-2014," Arbuzov was quoted by the government's press service as saying.

Ukraine will step up efforts to protect overseas investors from raiders and will conduct regular consultations with foreign embassies to prevent the withdrawal of investors from Ukraine, he said.

The foreign direct investment in Ukraine went up 8.2 percent to 6.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2012.

Last year, Ukraine climbed from the 152nd to the 137th place in a World Bank business ranking, due to positive changes in terms of business start-up, property registration and tax reduction.

Xinhua