“Dear colleagues. Hope you are all in good health.

Today is the 4th anniversary of the Four-Day April War of 2016. I suggest paying homage to our heroes with a minute of silence ...

Thank you.

Dear colleagues,

The Four-Day April War gave rise to different opinions, but I think that the War, what happened probably gave the most important answer to our queries, namely to what extent the generation of independence was prepared to defend the security and sovereignty of their homeland. I think that the reply was more than exhaustive since the independence generation – our brave guys - answered the question through their extraordinary high deeds.

The Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Artsakh, and the Armenian people, in general, should be confident that a new brilliant generation has come up to take the place of the first row of freedom-fighters, and this is beyond any doubt.

Dear colleagues,

The second topic I would like to address is the general election held in Artsakh. I want to compliment the people of Artsakh and congratulate us all on yesterday’s high-standard elections as evidenced by their official results.

Let us note that Arayik Harutyunyan, the leader of the Free Homeland Party, did not get just a few hundred votes to win the race as early as in the first round of the presidential election. Equally noteworthy was the unprecedented number of presidential candidates and political forces running in the parliamentary elections. Please note that the second and third largest number of seats went to the opposition in the parliamentary elections. I believe that Artsakh’s democratic development is crucial in terms of a fair settlement of the NK issue and in terms of ensuring security and stability in our region.

Now, I would like to give one more piece of information of economic nature; we had a budget revenue surplus of 49.5 billion drams or an increase of 16.5 percent in the first quarter of this year as compared to the same period in 2019. These figures will be more pronounced if we note that tax collection rose by 60.5 billion drams or 25.3% in the first quarter of 2019 against the same period in 2018. Thus, we can state that we have actually had serious overdrafts on the brink of crisis as the first quarter’s budget receipts proved more than 100 billion drams up against the index of 2018.

Unfortunately, we all realize that there are still a lot of uncertainties associated with the coronavirus crisis. We are in for an imminent slowdown, but the economic momentum of the first quarter of 2019 and 2020 demonstrate by and large that the Government’s economic policy was effective and that we have the pulse of the economy.

We are facing a new situation indeed, and therefore we must be able to make economic decisions just as much effectively amid the ongoing crisis. Here, I would like to thank all businessmen and citizens of the Republic of Armenia who keep paying taxes in due time. I would also like to thank the State Revenue Committee for successful tax collection.

And I want to reiterate that this crisis should not be seen as an opportunity to give up strict tax discipline, but on the contrary, tax discipline should be strengthened in a crisis. And I want to state concerning the talks being circulated about the enterprises standing idle nationwide that taxes are collected from operating entities that have some cash flow, income and profit, that is, in practice it is impossible to collect taxes from those people who do not have turnover and income.

Of course, there are specific types of fixed taxes, but we are implementing extensive economic support programs, including social support programs. However, I want to emphasize that tax discipline should not go loose in any way; instead it should be strengthened, since the government’s efficiency in all areas depends on the availability of budget funds, especially in this period of crisis, and we must do everything to fulfill the 2020 budget as much as possible.”