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.
The Prime Minister instructed the Ministers of Agriculture, Territorial Administration and Development, as well as the Head of State Water Management Committee and the Marz Governors to jointly develop and submit to the Government Staff within a month’s time proposals on incentives for the use of irrigated land for agricultural purposes, with a clear focus on the mechanisms of application of sanctions. The Prime Minister also suggested clarifying the procedure for terminating the rights to land, as well as limiting the discretionary powers of officials to initiate such a process.
“I think this is a problem, since we make every effort, we spend money with a view to expanding the coverage of arable land, but we have irrigated lands that do not participate in this process at all,” Karen Karapetyan noted.
The Premier’s next instruction related to the use of State-owned real estate and the symbols of Marzes and cities. In particular, the Head of Government instructed the relevant authorities to take stock and provide to the State Property Management Department the list of such real estate owned by the State, communities, and public non-commercial and other organizations subordinate to central executive authorities as are not yet used at all or are used insufficiently.
The Head of State Property Management Department was tasked to summarize the information so provided within a 1-month period and submit a proposal to the Government Staff on the implementation of investment programs, creation of new jobs, or otherwise the initiation of the process of alienation of unused property.
In order to simplify the licensing procedure for retail and wholesale drugs, the Government amended one of the previous decisions. In particular, the requirement for continued professional development of the staff engaged in pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies and healthcare institutions has been called off and replaced with the requirement for a training certificate valid for the last 5 years.
In order to address some issues arising during the procurement process, the Government adopted a relevant decision, which clarifies a number of controversial provisions concerning the terms of participation in the procurement process. As a result, bids containing non-essential shortcomings and their rejection will be ruled out.
The Government established a list of border villages eligible for reduced monthly rates of license tax. The Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia provides for a lower rate for border villages. The proposed list includes 203 border villages, where the monthly rate of license tax, depending on the type of activity, will be about 3-7 times lower.
Karen Karapetyan urged those responsible to keep in the spotlight the issues related to business and privatization and, in general, find out what kind of economic activity is observed following their implementation, and also what impact they have on the market.
The meeting approved the Government’s legislative initiative concerning a package of bills on amending the RA law On International Treaties and related laws, the RA law On Diplomatic Service, and the RA law On State Duty.