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

The Government adopted a decision on redistribution, amendments and additions to the law “On the state budget, 2022”, on making amendments and additions to the decision N 2121 of December 23, 2021 and on allocating money to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan reported that it is supposed to carry out or complete the construction works in 3 road sections. One is in Lori Province, in Stepanavan-Yaghdan section: this year 6 km of the 8.1 km will be repaired, the asphalting of the other 2 kms will be carried out next year. The other is Sisian-Dastakert section (Dastakert-Torunik-Tolors) and the third is one section of Tatev-Aghavni road, 17.5 km. 2 billion 734 million AMD is planned to be allocated for the works.

Referring to the issue, the Prime Minister said, “Analyzing the expenditure budget, we see shortfalls in capital expenditures, and it should be understood that it is not only the Government here, because, in fact, the private sector is the one that implements capital expenditures entirely. We have no state construction organization. In addition, these impromptu situations also affect the quality, because on the one hand, we oblige them to meet the deadline, and if they do not work according to the correct schedule, we also have further quality problems. And in general, we have a problem with the road construction standard. But, on the other hand, we cannot say that we stop construction all over the country until we have a standard, because a standard is one thing, having a company that complies with it is another thing. This public discussion is for also foreign companies and potential investors to know that we have a huge field where it is possible to work. This is an important particularity and an important message."

The Executive adopted a decision on making amendments to the state support program 2022-2023 aimed at the development of intensive horticulture in the Republic of Armenia, the introduction of modern technologies and the promotion of the production of non-traditional high-value crops. It is planned to change the size of loan interest subsidy. From January 1, 2023 loans will be available at an interest rate of 5 percent, instead of the previous effective interest rate of 2 percent. The size of reimbursement provided for the establishment of intensive orchards is also reduced, from 50 percent to 30 percent.

Referring to the decision, Nikol Pashinyan said, “Dear colleagues, I would like to remind you that having at least 1000 hectares of intensive orchard planting per year is one of the pre-election theses of the "Civil Contract" Party. And we are happy to record that already in the election year, in 2021, 1,600 hectares plantation plan was approved and implemented. Our logic is as follows. we have always said that the important function of state subsidy programs is to move a certain direction from its place, and when we see that this direction is gaining proper speed, we should already redistribute those funds to other directions, where the movement, the process, is not yet at a proper, desired level. We are happy that this is one of the pre-election theses that is clearly coming to life, has a good pace, and we can now redistribute part of the funds and try to use them for other directions of development."

The Government adopted decisions related to the rights of persons with disabilities, establishing the procedure and conditions for providing a personal assistant service, as well as the procedure for providing reasonable accommodations. The personal assistant service will be provided with state budget funding. The range of beneficiaries includes the most needy group; a personal assistant service can be provided to persons with profound functional limitations with locomotor, visual and mental problems, whose family is also registered in the family vulnerability assessment system. 2450 persons are expected to meet the criteria for having personal assistant. A personal assistant can be any adult, including a family member of the person with a disability, who will be trained and certified. The need and volume of the service will be defined with the introduction of the person's functionality assessment system in February, 2023. The service includes care for a person with a disability (meal preparation, house cleaning, shopping, help with doctor's visits, etc.), as well as support to overcome environmental barriers to mobility and communication difficulties. The decision will enter into force on January 1, 2024, but prior to that a pilot program will be implemented in 2023. 5,186,160.0 thousand AMD will be required to provide the service. The calculation was made on the principle of hourly payment: 1050 AMD for 1 hour.

The decision on the order of reasonable accommodations is aimed at expanding independent living opportunities for persons with disabilities, excluding discrimination in workplaces and educational institutions.

By the decisions of the Government, "ISTEC AR" LLC and "ELSA" CJSC were included in the register of operators of the "Alliance" free economic zone.

The legislative initiative of the Government of Armenia on the draft law of the Republic of Armenia "On ratifying the agreement on conducting audit activities within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union" was approved at the Cabinet meeting.