A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. Before proceeding to the agenda, the Prime Minister issued a number of instructions.
Regarding the Government’s annual performance report, the Premier stated as follows, “The Government will be summarizing its annual performance within a month’s time. Considering the feedback and accountability policy of the government, I hereby give the heads of executive authorities a month’s time to summarize their activities aimed at implementing reforms and priority activities in respective areas and submit progress reports to the public-at-large. As regards the priority tasks still in progress, the reports should clearly state their current status and completion deadlines.”
The Prime Minister charged the Minister of Healthcare to reconsider the State order allocation mechanisms: in particular, to improve the efficiency of medical services and revise within a three-month period the criteria applicable in the selection of State order recipient medical institutions, prioritizing the share of paid services in the organization’s total revenue.
Highlighting the need for ensuring increased efficiency in lawsuit allocation procedures and reducing the duration of court proceedings, Karen Karapetyan gave the Minister of Justice 2 months to study and submit to the Government Staff proposals on introduction and enforcement of trial delay explanation provisions, restrictions over the courts’ discretion of allocation procedures, as well as to envisage a specific monetary threshold for expedited settlement of civil cases.
The Government approved a program for subsidizing interest rates on the loans provided for the procurement of hail-proof networks in agriculture. The program provides for the use of more affordable and effective approaches for the procurement and introduction of anti-hail networks. Accordingly, it is envisaged to provide 2% loans for a period of 7 years. Around 700 million drams will be earmarked to that end in 2018.
Karen Karapetyan instructed the Ministers of Agriculture and Economic Development and Investments to jointly work on the program and inform local businesses about the market. “There are many businesses using hail-proof networks. We need to get statistics from the SRC concerning the amount of imports. After that, we need to maximize our ability to organize production inside the country,” the Head of Government said.
The Executive amended the State support program for the lease of agricultural machinery in Armenia, as a result of which about 400 domestic consumer cooperatives will benefit from the program.
The Government approved 2 new draft laws: On Defense and On Military Service and Servicemen’s Status.
Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan noted that these draft laws are firstly meant to address the new regulations stemming from constitutional changes. According to the Minister, the bills incorporate seven applicable laws. The goal of the bills is to provide a legal basis for the new defense policy. “This implies the formation of a legal framework for “I have the honor” and “I am” programs, which have been subject to public debate, so that they can be implemented from the next call-up campaign,” Vigen Sargsyan said.
A number of revisions are envisaged in the draft law On Military Service and Servicemen’s Status. In particular, the requirement to “serve at least 150 km away from home” will be called off under the updated version of the law.
With reference to another restriction, the Minister said, “We say that if two brothers are drafted in the same conscription, they can serve in the same military unit at their discretion. We are now proposing to remove the “same conscription” formulation, because whether it is the same conscription or not, if two or three brothers from the same family get drafted, they should be allowed to choose the same military unit.”
A new opportunity is also offered to the students enlisted in military educational institutions. The bill provides for a mandatory contract term of 10 years, instead of 20.
The Executive adopted a relevant decision envisaging the provision of medical accreditation for those who have a driver’s license and/or may obtain such a license in the Republic of Armenia according to international standards. The decision clearly specifies those mandatory changes to be made to a vehicle so that the competent authority could consider it adapted to the needs of persons with physical disabilities.
The Government decided to set up a visa-free regime for Japanese citizens starting September 6, 2017. The decision will allow Japanese citizens to stay in Armenia for a maximum of 180 days.
The meeting agreed upon the proposal to sign a grant agreement between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Japanese Government on exchanging notes for the Firefighting Equipment Improvement Program. The program aims to improve fire-rescue resources and equipment in Lori, Shirak and Syunik Marzes in order to effectively carry out fire-rescue operations and reduce the fire response time.
Karen Karapetyan asked Minister of Emergency Situations Davit Tonoyan whether the Armenian rescuers went to Georgia to join the firefighting effort underway in the forests of Borjomi. The Minister advised that yesterday he had a conversation with the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia. “We agreed to keep our staff ready. The Georgian side has a helicopter-related problem; our units remain in a state of high readiness,’ David Tonoyan said.
The Government approved an investment program as proposed by GM Developer LLC for construction of a multi-apartment building to be located between the Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema and the Mushegh Ishkhan Secondary School 5.
