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

Government approved Armenia’s anticorruption strategy and the relevant action plan for 2019-2022. The strategy is expected to create effective mechanisms against corruption.

According to Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan, within the framework of Armenia’s new anticorruption strategy, it is envisaged to create a standalone model of anticorruption body in the form of the Corruption Prevention Commission and the Anticorruption Committee.

“The law enforcement system is being drastically reformed to make it more specialized and effective. In particular, it is envisaged that in 2021 a single body of jurisdiction for the detection and investigation of corruption offenses will be set up, referred to as Anticorruption Committee. The draft provides that several investigative departments will merge and we will have three investigative authorities by 2021: the Investigative Committee, the Special Investigative Service, and the Anticorruption Committee. The latter will be the main specialized body to investigate corruption-related crimes,” the Minister said.

The Government passed a decision to amend the 2019 state budget-funded programs through budget redistribution. In particular, AMD 984.1 million will be allocated to finance special research activities under the Scientific and Technical Targeted Research Program, while AMD 117.7 million will be earmarked to the It Sector Competitiveness Support program.

Minister of High-Tech Industry Hakob Arshakyan touched upon the ongoing preparations for DigiTec Exhibition, which will be held in parallel with the World Congress of Information Technologies (WCIT 2019), the largest annual IT event.

With reference to the World Congress of Information Technologies, PM Pashinyan said: “This is a major event of global significance. We will have over 2000 guests, including official delegations. I think this is a very important event to present Armenia as a technological country on the world map once again and to promote the development of the technology sector. Indeed, it is a truly landmark event, and I am convinced that the Prime Minister’s staff, the ministries, the Police and the National Security Service have taken all necessary measures to properly organize the event.”

The Government approved a proposal to sign the Financial Cooperation Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.” Under the agreement, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany enables the Government of Armenia to obtain credit and financial support from the KfW Bank, in particular for the Agricultural Insurance Investment Program in Armenia.

The meeting next approved the proposal to sign the Agreement on Peculiarities of Transactions Related to Precious Metals and Precious Stones within the Eurasian Economic Union. The Agreement provides that if stamped with a mark in one of the EAEU-member States, jewelry and other products shall not be subject to further testing, examination and marking while being moved to another member State.

The Government approved the program and timetable for introducing a fixed-base and mobile radio monitoring system in the Republic of Armenia. According to the reference note, the system will ensure a nationwide radio-monitoring to rule out the operations of unauthorized radio sources in the territory of the Republic of Armenia by detecting deviations and non-targeted radio frequency users.

The Government’s legislative initiative on the draft law on State awards was approved, which is supposed to streamline the procedures of granting State awards. In particular, the bill suggests establishing 10 State awards in the Republic of Armenia.