A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The government approved the State standardization program 2024 and the list of standardization works. 14123.4 thousand AMD have been allocated in the budget for the works to be carried out within the framework of the programt. In 2024, 39 national standards are planned to be developed.
The main goal of the national standards development services program is to create an updated fund of national standards in harmony with international and European standards aimed at the innovative development of economic sectors in Armenia, as well as to ensure the fulfillment of the requirements of technical regulations.
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The main task of the program is to align the existing national standards fund with the current requirements of the dominant branches of the Armenian economy. During the implementation of the program, applying the main principle of standardization accepted in the international procedure, and adopting international standards as a basis for the development of national standards, favorable conditions will be created for the free access of goods (works, services) of Armenian companies to international and regional markets (including the EAEU area), for the recognition of the results of certification (assessment) of product conformity to the requirements of technical regulations and national standards on the global market, which will reduce technical barriers in international trade.
The government adopted a decision “On forgiving the obligations of natural persons and formulating it as state financial support”.
The issue was presented by Minister of Economy Vahe Hovhannisyan. “On the basis of Government Decision No. 2326-N of December 28, 2023, the financial claims of Armenian commercial banks, credit and insurance organizations against the NK Government and the foundations created by it, as well as individuals, were assigned to the Government of the Republic of Armenia, for which treasury bonds were issued for the latter. The obligations assumed by the government include the credit obligations of physical persons having pledged gold items to financial organizations of the Republic of Armenia. In particular, this is about the credit obligations of about 6,000 citizens in the amount of 2.8 billion AMD. The project proposes to forgive the credit obligations of individuals provided by the pledge of gold items in the amount of up to 5 million AMD and to create an opportunity to return the gold items. At present, financial organizations continue to keep around 7,800 pieces of gold with a total weight of around 30 kg pledged against the obligations of around 1,800 citizens. Moreover, the composition of liabilities with a total credit of about 2.3 billion is as follows. 5241 loans up to 500 thousand AMD, 718 loans from 500 thousand to 1 million AMD, 221 loans from 1 million to 2 million AMD, 25 loans from 2-2.5 million AMD, 15 loans 2.5-5 million AMD, and just 5 loans over 5 million AMD.” According to the minister, after the adoption of the decision by the government, the beneficiaries of the decision can submit an application to the Ministry of Finance to conclude a debt forgiveness agreement with the latter. Vahe Hovhannisyan also informed that the order of submission of applications and other details regarding the process will be clarified on the official website of the Ministry and in the media. It was also noted that the pledged gold items will be returned to the citizens after signing the debt forgiveness contract.
Referring to the decision, Nikol Pashinyan noted that this applies exclusively to forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh, who received loans with gold as collateral, and these loans were transferred to the government.
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
