Republican Party of Armenia

A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

Opening the meeting, the Prime Minister addressed the audience: “I would like to begin the meeting with the question of welfare packages. As you may know, a pilot program was launched early this year, under which a welfare package is offered to more than 120 thousand public servants nationwide, health insurance being the key component of the package. As we can witness now, there is ever-growing interest among public servants. At this point, we have some 150 heart surgeries carried out under the program.

But on the other hand, mass media are reporting abusive interpretations on the part of some institutions where a fee is charged for allowing access to the package. Since this is a pilot program, quick response is needed on our part. I am hereby directing the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education and Science to take up the matter and verify the integrity of media publications with a view to launching a service probe.

The Government approved an action plan for introduction of e-government in the system of notary services. The decision stipulates specific measures, responsibilities, deadlines and a budget for concept implementation.

According to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, once effective, the decision will have a positive impact on the quality of services, though there is some concern that higher fees may be charged for said services. “We cannot turn a blind eye on the reported price-hike in notary services. We should analyze the situation to realize the actual profit margin in this area, because some notaries are making excess earnings, while others not. We should boost competition in this field to achieve normal market rates,” the head of government emphasized.

The meeting approved the new wording of a previous decision concerning the 3-year VAT deferment granted to Aske Group for AMD 300mn worth of equipment imports. To refurbish the existing foundry unit, the company has been purchasing different types of production lines, imported and separated in different containers. Aske Group is set to invest AMD 7.87 billion in a bid to complete the modernization component by 2013 allowing for some 300 new jobs available on the spot.

The National Assembly Staff was allocated AMD 22.5mn to provide for normal activity of the new parliamentary faction which was formed as a result of the May general election.

The Government decided to reorganize the High School N30 SNCO, merging it with the Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi, which will assume the rights and liabilities of the new legal entity.

Another decision was amended to streamline the teaching of “History of Armenian Church” academic discipline in the 5-9th grades and 10-11th grades of general schools.