Thursday, 20 June 2013
No Accusation To Go Unanswered
A regular Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
Before announcing the meeting agenda, the Prime Minister made a political statement in response to the Audit Chamber’s latest report. Tigran Sargsyan said to be personally interested in that any disclosure by the Audit Chamber be sent to law enforcement authorities so that a procedure is defined for the Audit Chamber to submit reports to the National Assembly. The head of government directed the ministers not to let any blame go unanswered (see separate).
Based on the law on Social Security disability, the government amended one of its previous decisions to clarify the procedure set for medical examination of persons with disabilities. The amendments are supposed to help avoid subjective approaches, as well as reduce the risk of corruption. A disable person will henceforth be able to get expert advice from the corresponding authority within the period specified for suspension.
Addressing the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs who introduced the issue, the Prime Minister wanted to know what had changed since the year-old consultative meeting held at the Ministry, during which relevant instructions were issued to the Ministry. The Minister reported drastic organizational improvements, including personnel changes, indicating that there was significant decrease in the citizens' complaints. Either the activities of the social security service were said to have improved a lot as evidenced by tens of thousands of citizens.
The meeting passed a public procurement decision stating that under the 2013 State budget-funded “Monument reinforcement, repair and rehabilitation” program for restoration of 11 historical monuments, partial repair and reinforcement of one monument and excavation work on a memorial site through the use of negotiated procedures without prior publication of a procurement announcement. The list includes Holy Godmother’s church in Irind village of Aragatsoten Marz, Sanahin monastery in Lori Marz, Bjno Castle in Kotayk Marz, Vorotnavank in Syunik Marz and other monuments.
“Major work has been done at Sanahin. German, Italian and French specialists gave expert findings after visiting the monastic complex. I saw that a huge amount of work has already been done," the Premier said in this connection.
The government approved a program for transition to terrestrial digital TV broadcasting in Armenia, which provides that starting June 1, 2015, national broadcasters will shift from analog TV toward a common European standard of digital broadcasting.
The government next amended one of its previous decisions to improve the system of risk-based oversight. Numerous checks were carried out by the Finance Ministry's licensing inspectorate in 2012, which revealed low level of risk with lottery, gambling house and casino operators. The new decision is meant to substitute some criteria with new ones to clear up the situation in this area.
The government established Special Investigation Service staff uniform and badge descriptions and a procedure for their use. Another decision was passed to establish descriptions and a procedure for wearing uniforms and identification badges by prosecutors in the Republic of Armenia.
