A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The Government adopted a decision on making changes to the “Law of the Republic of Armenia on State Budget 2022”, amendments and additions to the decision N 2121 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of December 23, 2021. Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan reported that the decision stems from the instruction of the Prime Minister of Armenia given during the discussion of the "Life Garden" project held on July 18. In particular, it is proposed to lay a water pipe to the Botanical Garden, with which, in the second phase, an appropriate network will be laid throughout the park and it will be supplied with water. The length of the water pipe is about 1.5 km, which will start from Sarkavag Street and reach the Botanical Garden. The Minister noted that the cost of the entire project is 245 million AMD, and since the project is planned to be completed within 200 days, it is recommended to plan half of the works for this year and allocate 122 million AMD.

The Government adopted a decision on approving the 2023-2025 program of supporting the unification (consolidation) of agricultural lands in the Republic of Armenia. According to the report of Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan, the purpose of the decision is to promote the productivity and the reduction of cost through state supported consolidation of lands in 2023-2025, the creation of new jobs, the targetted use and effective management of land, the increase of the volume of investments in the agricultural sector. In particular, it is planned to compensate the costs for the works done according to the program of the consolidated lands with an area of 30 ha and more in the amount of 50 percent of the actual payments of beneficaries but not for the works performed on the consolidated lands with an area of no more than 200 ha. It is expected that in 2023, the amount of lands to be consolidated will be around 1000 ha, in 2024 - around 1500 ha, in 2025 - around 2000 ha, in total 4500 ha of enlarged plot. It is expected that economic entities planning large investments in the agricultural sector, taking into account the amount of state support, will accelerate the process of enlarging plots.

The Government made changes and additions to the March 26, 2020 decision "On Approving the Economy Modernization Measure" with the aim of expanding the sectoral scope of the measure. In addition to the manufacturing industry, it is proposed to include mining and mine exploitation, information and communication, construction, transportation and storage, professional, scientific and technical activities, education, health care and population-based service. The change also envisages encouraging the involvement of high-quality specialists in order to increase the productivity of the economy.

The Prime Minister referred to the effectiveness of the programs implemented by the Government, emphasizing the importance of proper and periodic public awareness campaigns. "Dear colleagues, I would like to draw attention to the following. It's good that we adopt these programs, but it's our task to let every potential beneficiary of the program know about it. We have not solved this issue. We go to the villages, we talk to people, we ask if they are aware of such a program, people haven't even heard of it. We must use all our state resources, present to people: inform scientists about programs related to science, farmers about programs related to farms, builders about programs related to construction and manufacturers about programs related to manufacturing”.