Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan attended the opening of the 15th annual Baze youth gathering in Tsakhkadzor.
Welcoming and congratulating the youth on the opening of Baze, the Premier noted that this edition of Baze is symbolic because its 15th anniversary is being marked this year. “More than 8500 young people from Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora have participated in the gatherings ever since the launch of Baze, and I think this movement is a good platform where young people can feel united. Youth is the most exciting and progressive part of any society. Armenia is not an exception in this respect, and you all have the responsibility to make tomorrow’s day better, it is important for you to be pleased with both the responsibility and opportunity, and act accordingly,” Karen Karapetyan pointed out.
The Head of Government urged the youth to be independent, free and active. “Work on yourselves regularly to become more competitive, up-to-date, take a look more confident and courageous look at tomorrow, and most importantly, love our country,” the Prime Minister said.
Karen Karapetyan handed in Prime Minister’s letters of appreciation to a number of young people for active participation in youth-targeted events and significant contribution to the Government’s youth policy, as well as on the 15th anniversary of Baze Pan-Armenian Youth Assembly.
After the participants had presented their vision of Armenia’s development, the Premier asked their questions, which bore on Armenia’s economic development, including the reform of tax and customs systems, healthcare, education and sports.
Referring to economic developments, Karen Karapetyan noted that during the first 7 months of thus year economic activity grew by 6.2%, industry – 12.7%, exports – 21.6% and imports – 28.5%. In the meantime, several programs have been launched. “Investments have been made in textile industry, agriculture, information technology, energy, tourism, and so on. We declared that we have developed investment programs to a total cost of USD3.2 billion, of which 830-840 million is expected in by this yearend. We will provide a report: the pace of ongoing investments shows that the aforementioned figures are quite feasible,” Karen Karapetyan underscored.
Touching upon the implementation of programs by the Armenian Investment Club, the Head of Government advised that the latter participates in the construction of Shnogh hydroelectric power station. At the same time, Karen Karapetyan noted that hard work is needed to implement the proposed investment programs