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

The government redistributed the 2021 state budget and amended one of its previous decisions. Accordingly, funds will be made available to the population of Artsakh to cover utility bills and fees for communication services, as well as to pay the salaries, benefits, pensions and healthcare expenses envisaged by Artsakh’s state budget for July, 2021.

Nikol Pashinyan stated in this connection: “With this decision, we are allocating 8.7 billion drams to Artsakh. Some 14 programs have been implemented since November 9, 2020. A total of 53 billion drams has been spent so far. I would like to remind you the measures implemented to support our compatriots in Artsakh. Support for households hosting residents of communities currently not controlled by Artsakh’s authorities. 3300 beneficiaries benefited from this program, 1 billion 654 million drams were spent altogether. 450 host families used the program to support people who lost their real assets in Artsakh; 196 million drams were spent. Support program for citizens registered or actually residing in Artsakh. This is a 4-month support program of 68,000 drams, with 109,000 beneficiaries and a total cost of 30 billion drams.

We have implemented a guest-house support program, covering 21 guest houses with a total cost of 162 million drams. About 10 billion drams were spent on assistance programs for injured citizens and legal entities. These programs are in progress. There are also completed projects. A program of assistance to citizens registered in Artsakh, 100,000 beneficiaries benefited, 7.3 billion drams were spent.

277 million drams were made available under support program for Artsakh-domiciled children up to 5 years old, 20,000 drams each as a Christmas present. 940 million drams were spent to assist pensioners and other beneficiaries in Artsakh. Artsakh utility bills payment program: we have paid the utility bills for all residents of Artsakh, 1 billion drams have been spent.

Next, AMD 4.6 billion was spent to refund communication and communal services. 3,100 million drams went to fund the remuneration of state employees in Artsakh; AMD 1 billion was spent under the Artsakh economy support program. In total, we have approved support programs worth nearly 74 billion drams, plus the aforementioned 9 billion.

In fact, we can state that the package of assistance to Artsakh stands at 83 billion drams, of which 52 billion has already been spent. Some of the projects I listed are in progress, others are completed.”

Nikol Pashinyan noted that the Armenian government will continue to support our compatriots in Artsakh. “But here, too, the logic needs to be changed: rehabilitation programs should be substituted with development programs, so that Artsakh’s economy could be revived; the labor market and economic relations are restored, money is generated in Artsakh,” the Acting Prime Minister said.

The government decided to provide additional resources for the daily training of Armenian men’s and women’s weightlifting teams of all age groups in accordance with the standards of the International Weightlifting Federation.

The meeting approved the proposal to sign the Protocol Implementing the Readmission Agreements between the governments of the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Armenia for RA citizens residing in the European Union without a permit. The Contracting Parties envisage establishing on a reciprocal basis rapid and effective legal procedures for identification and safe return of such Armenian citizens that do not meet or otherwise no longer meet the requirements for entry, stay or residence in one of EU-member States.