Friday, 10 September 2010
- Mr. Prime Minister, the Russian “Gazprom” has already announced that the cost of imported gas will be raised for Armenia as of 2011. What is being done by the Armenian government to mitigate the impact of the proposed price rise?
- The matter was taken up during RF President Dmitry Medvedev’s recent visit to our country and is kept in focus by the Government. All those agencies concerned are holding permanent consultations. The executives of “Hayrusgasard” have been told to keep in touch with their Russian counterparts so that the pricing policies and methodologies should be predictable to us. The management of “Hayrusgasard” is expected to report back the outcome of the ongoing talks within a couple of months.
- Mr. Sargsyan, agriculture has been showing downward trends: what is your forecast for the nearest future?
- Agriculture has been on the fall for the first 7 months of 2010 as adverse climatic conditions resulted in a sharp decline in the output of fruits and vegetables to deteriorate all macroeconomic indicators in Armenia. It would be very hard for me to make any forecasts about the upcoming fall and spring sowing seasons. Anyway, everybody can see that serious reform is underway in the farming sector. A seed-breeding program has been approved for the first time over the past decade and, notwithstanding the fact that serious bans are being imposed on Russian seed exports, we plan to bring in 1000 tons of high-quality seeds from Russia during the upcoming weeks. We have already selected a group of eligible companies that can engage in seed breeding activities in marzes. We are trying to provide that local farmers produce some 30 thousand tons of elite seeds over the 5 years ahead. Dozens of private entities will be involved in this program, and we expect to have coped with the seed-breeding problem within the next 5 years. Productivity will thereby be enhanced by nearly 15-20%. An organic fertilizer manufacturing program was developed based on local research capacity. Pilot projects have been successfully carried out in all the regions of Armenia. This is supposed to reduce our dependency on imported fertilizers. Besides, the home-made fertilizers will be twice as cost-effective as the imported ones. Domestic livestock is being upgraded continuously with young cows imported from abroad to improve overall productivity in this area. Regional centers have been established with the help of the World Bank to hold consultations with our farmers. Drinking and irrigation water supply systems are being improved in our country. For the first time, the agricultural reform program was put up for public discussion following finalization by the Public Council. A technical refurbishment program is out, too. The concept seeks to promote farm consolidation and farming efficiency nationwide. Noteworthy is that the concept of agricultural development is closely related to the program of rural community development considering that the complex farming development and job diversity targets meet the government’s focus on harmonious territorial development.
- Mr. Sargsyan, a workshop referred to as “Post-crisis Armenia: challenges and opportunities” will be held tomorrow in Dilijan. What kind of problems is Armenia facing in the wake of the global crisis? Also, what other issues will be discussed during tomorrow’s forum?
- In parallel to a post-crisis agenda, long-term development issues, too, will be addressed at tomorrow’s forum account taken of the lessons drawn from the crisis, including the road covered during the past two decades, the models of economic reform, Armenia’s competitive assets and weaknesses and so on, that is we are going to have a more conceptual debate so as to concretize the strategy at the heart of our policy.
