A regular Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. Before proceeding to the agenda, the Prime Minister gave a number of instructions.
Evoking his recent trip to Lori Marz, the Prime Minister said to have seen many opportunities to create new jobs in the Marz, especially for women, and went on to advise that a relevant instruction has been given to Minister of Economic Development and Investment Suren Karayan.
The Prime Minister said that there is a potential for the development of textile industry in Lori Marz, and the Government should provide support in this regard. “In fact, there is an opportunity to generate some 3,000 jobs. Men are more or less busy, but there is a problem in respect of female employment,” the Prime Minister pointed out.
The Premier issued instructions concerning the socio-economic development of Lake Sevan and the surrounding areas, apartment buildings’ management efficiency, road building, 5-year development program, the production of commercials advertising as a tourism country and dissemination through international media.
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The Prime Minister instructed the Minister of Culture to study within two weeks world-famous film director and screenwriter David MacKenzie’s proposal to found a school of cinema and television in Armenia.
The Premier urged the heads of government departments to properly inform the public on all aspects of the reform process.
The meeting approved a set of draft amendments to the law On Value Added Tax and the law On Taxes. The proposal suggests that from July 1, 2017 the prepaid VAT amounts shall be refunded not only to exporters, but also to those taxpayers implementing transactions in the domestic area.
Head of State Revenue Committee Vardan Harutyunyan noted that this amendment is an important step aimed at improving the business and investment environment. At the same time, it may have a positive impact on Armenia’s standing on those rankings lists that assess countries’ progress in improving the business environment.
The Government next approved the framework agreement on developing, financing, building, owning, running and maintaining a 250 MW combined-cycle gas power plant in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia, to be signed between the Government of Armenia, Armpower CJSC and Renco S.p.A. With an investment of USD 250 million, the project will take 26 months to complete resulting in 900 well-paid jobs, with 200 more jobs to be made available during subsequent operations.
The Executive approved the concept of the law on volunteer activities and voluntary work, which suggests drafting a bill on voluntary activities and voluntary work in order to lay down the mechanisms for separation of volunteer activities from unlawful or paid activities. As a result, the institute of volunteer services will be constituted to create incentives for voluntary works and the necessary preconditions for increasing its role in civil society.
The Government granted a 3-year VAT delay for any such goods and commodities as may be imported by Gofroline Ltd under its investment program. Note that Gofroline Ltd intends to make a total investment amount of 390 million drams that will generate about 25 jobs.
With the following decision, the Government granted a 3-year VAT deferment to for goods and equipment imported by Mixed Fodder Plant after Vlad Hakobyan CJSC. The company is going to make a total investment of about 500 million drams that will help create 22 jobs.
