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

The Government adopted a decision to tackle the housing needs for 300 young orphanage leavers. About 300 orphans will receive a home purchase certificate.

Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zarouhi Batoyan noted that the State has failed to fulfill, or otherwise, has fallen short of its commitment to provide housing to orphanage leavers over the past 16 years. State and non-governmental organizations paid inadequate attention to orphanage leavers. As a result, the latter used to get housing through the system of social housing estate.

“According to preliminary estimate, 1.9 billion drams are needed for this purpose. Orphanage graduates will receive housing purchase certificates with a nominal value not exceeding 6.3 million drams in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. By investing their own funds, project beneficiaries may purchase apartments worth over 6.3 million drams,” the Minister noted.

In addition, program beneficiaries shall be entitled to psychological support and getting employment after being provided the necessary professional skills. It is also envisaged to improve the level of social services provided to people living in similar institutions and the process of integrating people with disabilities into society.

In order to put in place a sustainable income generation mechanism for family and social benefit system beneficiaries, the Government made redistribution in the 2019 budget law and amended one of its previous decisions. The decision will help reduce the level of unemployment in the country and provide for sustainable employment. In particular, it is proposed to apply the option of farmer assistance, as approved by a relevant government decree, for 1000 additional families, after selecting them from the list of 29100 beneficiaries. The families so selected will get support, fodder and continued advice. This joint activity will be carried out by local welfare authorities and specialists from the regional employment centers.

Highlighting the decision, Nikol Pashinyan stressed that there is no other way than labor to overcome poverty. “It is an extremely important project. In general, this should be our policy on the way to poverty reduction, because we believe and are sending a clear message to society that there is no other way than labor to overcome poverty,” the Prime Minister said.

The Government next decided to increase the quotas and the level of State assistance for those economic entities intending to establish 0.5-10 hectares of vineyards and intensive orchards.

The Executive approved a proposal to sign an investment grant facility under the “Road Safety Improvement in Armenia” project between the Republic of Armenia and the European Investment Bank. According to Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Vache Terteryan, the € 4.2 million-worth grant project seeks to enhance the road safety standards in parallel to large-scale highway construction underway in Armenia.

The meeting adopted a decision on the 2019 winter conscription and demobilization campaign for regular military service in the Republic of Armenia, which provides that preparations for the winter conscription under the compulsory and alternative military service arrangement will start on November 14, and the call-up campaign will be launched on December 16, 2019.