Republican Party of Armenia

 A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.

Before proceeding to the agenda, as instructed by the Prime Minister, the Energy and Natural Resources Minister made a report on the settlement of Nairit staff wage arrears. He advised that the process is going on and the salaries will be paid out during the next 1-2 days, since there are no obstacles whatsoever, including financial ones.

At the latest Cabinet sitting, the Prime Minister instructed to minimize the number of inspections in business entities. A decision was passed today, which provides for a drastic reduction in the number of inspections by all inspection authorities until January 1, 2016, with the exception of tax and customs inspections.

According to Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, the decision is very important and will have a positive impact on the business environment.

The Government approved the proposal on the signing of an agreement on Armenia’s participation in the “Competitiveness of enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (2014-2020)” program between Government of the Republic of Armenia and the European Union. The program seeks to enable SMEs to benefit from EU SME development initiatives.

Prime Minister Abrahamyan said to have discussed the program with European Council President Donald Tusk, who pledged his support for the program. “SME development is a priority and we are constantly trying to back any such initiative as may help develop this sector. The program will help funnel additional funds toward developing SMEs in Armenia that I feel it to be a serious relief,” the Head of Government concluded.

The Government approved the apparent commercial quantities and the forms in Armenian and Russian of notifications of import duty and indirect tax payment commitment for those importers not registered as individual entrepreneurs. In case of import of goods into the territory of the Republic of Armenia from EEU-member countries a relevant notice shall be delivered to the individuals concerned in person or by mail.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan instructed the customs authorities to refrain from creating artificial barriers to those individuals importing goods for their own needs as our customs officials are well aware of the resellers’ identity.

According to the provisions of the law “On human trafficking and identification and support of trafficking victims,” the Government approved a procedure for selection of representatives of social partner organizations and NGOs to serve on the identification commission.

The meeting approved the estimate of extra-budgetary expenditures for a program implemented by the National Statistical Service for 2015. The program implies the conduct of a demographic and health survey in Armenia from June 15, 2015 through June 14, 2017. To this end, the US Agency for International Development will extend over 466 million drams to the NSS.

In conclusion, the Government decided to move the working day of September 14, 2015 to September 19, 2015.