YEREVAN (A.W.)—An extraordinary Cabinet meeting was held in Yerevan on June 19, during which a new government program (2017-2022) was introduced and approved.
A scene from the June 19 Cabinet meeting (Photo: Press Office of the Government of Armenia)
According to a press statement released by Armenian Prime Minsiter Karen Karapetyan’s office, the program will soon be submitted to the National Assembly (Parliament).
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for International Economic Integration and Reforms Vache Gabrielyan introduced the program, which features “large-scale reforms” aimed at ensuring Armenia’s sustainable development.
Gabrielyan noted that the program is based on the President’s message, the principles and programs of the pre-election coalition agreement signed by the Republican Party of Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), as well as a “wide variety of progressive ideas circulating in society.”
According to the statement, the new government program is based on the vision of building a safe, fair, free, and intelligent Armenia.
According to Gabrielyan, each section of the program addresses the problems identified over the past nine months while the government tried to diagnose the existing challenges and find practical solutions to them. The program seeks to build on those initiatives implemented during the past nine months, as well as outline the complex of those long-term development objectives that the government is going to implement over the next five years.
The program states the government’s goals and the vision in terms of foreign policy and security, and specifically points to building a closer relationship between Armenia and Artsakh, and to ensure Armenia’s security as a prerequisite for economic development.
The program consists of four main sections: public governance and legal system, foreign policy and defense, economic progress, and social issues, and each section contains a list of reforms and timelines as proposed by individual agencies, to ensure the long term development of Armenia.
“We have clearly formulated what we want to achieve in the economy in the fields of unemployment, minimum wage, and exports, as well as in terms of the taxes-GDP ratio. Besides, we have specified those reforms, actions, and steps that need to be implemented to achieve that goal,” Karapetyan pointed out.
Source: Armenian Weekly
Link: Major Reforms Promised in New Armenian Government Program
