A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

By the decision of the Government, the program on “Providing a nominal pension to cultural figures who participated in prestigious international festivals and award ceremonies in the field of culture and received awards" was approved. Thus, the introduction of the nominal pension is aimed at valuing the achievements in the sphere of culture, increasing the recognition of artistic and cultural results, contributing to the creation of a favorable environment for cultural figures, and the introduction of state incentive mechanisms in the fields of culture.

Referring to the topic, Nikol Pashinyan also emphasized. "We have written 11 individuals and 2 collectives in the prediction, but this is a preliminary observation, if there are 33 individuals and 20 collectives, it does not mean that we will say that we predicted 11. No, we want it to be 33, 333 and more, because I think it will also promote the development of our culture, both as a culture and as a branch of the economy, and as a more visible factor in public life, in general, with the logic of raising public discourses and also becoming a platform for discussion of public issues."

According to the decision of the Government, 110,000 shares equivalent to (twenty) percent of the 100 (one hundred) percent of common shares (550,000) with a nominal value of 1000 (thousand) AMD of the closed joint stock company "MTS Armenia" owned by the company "Fedilco Group Limited" was accepted as a donation to the Republic of Armenia. The authority to manage them has been assigned to the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.

Referring to the issue, the Prime Minister noted: "I want to note that counting also this decision, the people of the Republic of Armenia, represented by the Government, have a stake in several companies and projects of strategic importance, the first is the Zangezur copper-molybdenum combine, the second decision we made is related to the Amulsar mine, and MTS - Armenia company, which, if I am not mistaken, has the largest number of subscribers in the Republic of Armenia, that is, it is the largest company in the field of telecommunications and also the third company in which the people of the Republic of Armenia, represented by the Government, receive a 20 percent share. And this is a concrete result that is worth presenting and reporting to the people of the Republic of Armenia."

The Government approved the proposal to sign the grant agreement “Climate-Adaptive Food Security Enhancement Project" between the Republic of Armenia and the Asian Development Bank. A $3 million grant offered by the Japan Fund for a Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific will support the Government of Armenia to increase the resilience of agricultural livelihoods and improve food security in rural areas that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The Climate-Adaptive Food Security Enhancement Project will focus on two regions of Armenia, Shirak and Tavush, where smallholders face high levels of poverty, food insecurity and climate risks.