A Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Before proceeding to the agenda, the Acting Prime Minister advised that mandates are going to be handed to a group of MPs and expressed the hope that those government members receiving NA mandates would help the Executive in its activities.

“Three of our colleagues will get a parliamentary mandate today. Acting First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Acting Minister of Diaspora Mkhitar Hayrapetyan and Acting Minister of Culture Lilit Makunts. Therefore, they will henceforth be working at the National Assembly. I would like to thank our colleagues for joint work in the Government. I am hopeful that they will contribute at least as much to the effectiveness of the government,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

Noting that during the latest electoral campaign a promise was made to change the government’s composition and structure, reduce the number of ministries, the Acting Prime Minister said the government should strictly abide by this policy line.

“The essence of this process is not to spare money; it is far more important to raise the effectiveness of public administration bodies. This is the only goal that is worth the formulation. We expect that serious work will be done to this end,” the Acting Prime Minister said, adding that the discussions on this issue will continue in the Government. “We are convinced that we should go this way as we actually have the citizens’ mandate. During this time, we will consider all the proposals concerning the government’s configurations in order to make a well-balanced decision,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

The Acting Prime Minister touched upon the talks and concerns about the Ministry of Diaspora. “I would like to dwell on the Ministry of Diaspora in a special way since I feel that the matter is being misinterpreted as many believe that we want to check out the Ministry of Diaspora. On the contrary, the problem is clearly formulated in this case: we want to overhaul the Government’s cooperation with the Diaspora. In this regard, we have a specific model which implies that eventually the relations with the Diaspora will not be reduced; they will be further enhanced. We are going to hold discussions with Diaspora representatives on the matter at hand, and I hope that we will reach an agreement and consensus on this issue,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

The Government approved the procedure for providing information to an adopted person over the age of eighteen of his / her adoption, birthplace and time, as well as personal data of his / her biological parents. Accordingly, in the person of registry offices, state and local self-governing authorities shall provide adoption-related information on the basis of an application submitted by 18-year-old adopted children, which should comprise the applicant’s name, patronymic and surname before the adoption, the date and place of birth, as well as information on biological parents, their nationality, blood group and diseases.

Touching upon the applicable adoption procedure and the policy pursued in this area, Nikol Pashinyan said he had been receiving numerous complaints stating that there were legal impediments and a huge red tape in this field. Acting Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalyan assured that they would once again review the efficiency and accessibility of the applicable procedure. Nikol Pashinyan instructed to submit a statement on the status of all adopted children residing abroad.

By the decision of the government, the Republic of Armenia will get free of charge the plot land of 3 hectares with a cadastral value of AMD 135.720.000 at Bagrevand Street h”74, Nor Nork administrative district, Yerevan, which as owned by the Yerevan community is subject to public development. The above landed property will be attached to the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Armenia.

A relevant decision will set out the provisions on accepting the donation, registering it with the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies and granting donations to organizations for building an engineering town.