President Serzh Sargsyan visited today the Ministry of Economy. The President toured the premise of the Ministry, conversed with the employees of the Ministry’s departmental reform group, the Agency for Licensing and Authorization and other departments about their work and forthcoming plans, inquired about the working conditions and existing problems. Later, at the conference hall of the Ministry, the President conducted a working meeting with the leadership of the Ministry.

At the meeting, the Minister of Economy, Deputy Ministers and Head of Staff reported on the works carried out in their respective areas, spoke about the existing problems and development programs.

Minister Vahram Avanessian along with the economic trends presented also the main emphases which will appear in the future activities of the Ministry. In particular, he reported on the works carried out in the area of Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union, the process of reformation undertaken in the area of civil aviation, departmental reforms, improvement of business environment and information technologies, development of small and medium enterprises, as well as about the works conducted in the area of innovative policies.

Deputy Minister Ara Petrossian presented the area of trade and market regulation speaking, particularly, about the turnover and increase of export volumes in January-October of 2013.

Main activities conducted in 2013 in the area of quality infrastructure and technical regulation were presented by Deputy Minister Garnik Badalian. The Deputy Minister spoke also about the drafts of 4 national technical regulations, National Accreditation body, works of the national institutes of Standards and Measures.

Another Deputy Minister, Garegin Melkonian presented the results of international economic cooperation, cooperation with EU and intellectual property issues, particularly, bilateral and multilateral cooperation, assistance programs implemented by the European Union in 2012-2013 and other areas under his supervision.

Deputy Minister Tigran Harutyunian spoke about investment policy, main directions and priorities for industrial development.

Head of Staff of the Ministry of Economy Emil Tarasian familiarized the President of Armenia with the structure of the Ministry, reported on human resources and administration and steps taken towards the enhancement of the staff efficiency.
After listening to the reports, the President spoke about tasks and priorities before the Ministry of Economy. “To recap our tasks, I should say that there has opened a new and vast field for work, and I anticipate active, persistent and thorough work. I emphasize these words because such work qualities are really necessary for us, related to our membership to the Customs Union. We all should realize that it is a responsibility which we have assumed,” the President underscored.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed also the importance of the Ministry’s persistent work on other directions, including strengthening of favorable business environment, development of the areas which have great export potential and capacity to generate multiple jobs, support of small and medium enterprises.

Serzh Sargsyan spoke about the necessity to develop in the Ministry of Economy of analytical capacities and creation of a relevant center whose activities should be of a more applicable nature. The President stressed the importance of a public nature of the works conducted by the future center work and availability of its analysis for the public at large. The President of Armenia noted that as the initial step, he anticipates that already in February-March 2014, when the National Statistical Service will have issued final social and economic results for year 2013, the Government will present a comprehensive and meticulous analysis. Presented will be tendencies registered throughout the year; it will become clear whether goals set for year 2013 have been met and if not, what are the subjective and objective reasons which resulted in deflection, how the external factors have influenced the final results, what base has been set for future development, etc. According to the President, such analyses are also necessary so that adopted decisions and approaches become comprehensible for all.

At the Ministry of Economy, the President responded also to the questions raised by the participants of the meeting. In particular, presenting his view on the pension reform, which is being broadly debated nowadays, Serzh Sargsyan said, “You see, I have been working on that issue personally for some time and in the past have conducted a number of meetings, also with the participation of the political forces represented in the National Assembly, to be more precise, with at least four groups, with the participation of party leaders. The objective was to understand all problems which might appear – from public discontent to economic and financial problems, and with this conviction we have drafted a law, sent it to the National Assembly and, thanks God, we already have a law which has been voted on, and my attitude towards that law is positive. I hear different opinions every day and these opinions, by the may, could be easily split as political and professional; in political as well as professional opinions present are both superficial and rather thoughtful approaches. I would like every one who believes this is a useful reform to be more active. After all, what do we want? We want to put an end to a bad situation existing today, related to the social security of the elderly. To be honest, I occasionally feel embarrassed, ashamed. I even believe, the time has come to apologize to these people. We have to solve this problem so that future state officials are not compelled to apologize. I want every official who could have solved this problem years ago, hear me now, we wouldn’t be forced to apologize now. Tall tales that a system which was created through the solidarity of generations and decades is now being destroyed. Who said that is being destroyed? The system will remain intact. What we say is “we make this addition to it.” I am very positive about it, and all those who believe it’s a good thing, should be more active,” the President said.

At the conclusion of the meeting, a group of the Ministry employees were awarded for their diligent and efficient work. Artak Baghdassarian, Head of the Economic Development Policy Department, Artashes Hovhannissian, Head of the First Division, Nina Ter-Grigorian, Leading Specialist at the Department of International Economic Cooperation received Presidential Letters of Commendation.