Thursday, 19 February 2026
Guarantees for investment and investor protection will be established, taking into account modern internationally accepted standards
Today, the regular Cabinet meeting took place, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan.
The Government approved the bill "On Investments", which aims to improve the investment environment. The goal of the bill is to establish clear, transparent and predictable legal bases in line with the modern requirements of investment relations to ensure the protection of investors' rights, freedom and promotion of investment, both for local and foreign investors. The adoption of the bill will create a clear and predictable investment legal environment, which will enable Armenia to increase its international investment rating and competitiveness, investment attractiveness and promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth. The bill defines guarantees for investment and investor protection, taking into account modern internationally accepted standards.
The bill defines the types of investment incentives (privileges), their purpose, nature, legal bases and mechanisms for application. In addition, it is proposed to introduce a flexible mechanism for providing investment incentives, namely, the provision of incentives through investment contracts. In particular, it is proposed to provide for the possibility of providing investment incentives not only on the basis of laws or decisions of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, but also through investment contracts. Such an approach will create a more flexible and targeted mechanism for providing incentives to investors, taking into account the specifics of each specific investment initiative. At the same time, it is proposed to establish that the main conditions, criteria and priority investment directions of the investment contract will be established by a Government decision.
The Government made amendments and additions to a number of previously adopted decisions on ensuring the non-cash payment of pensions and other periodic payments, including bonuses, old-age benefits, disability benefits, and benefits in case of loss of a breadwinner. As noted by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Arsen Torosyan, according to the law adopted in December, from April 1, all pensions and benefits must be paid non-cash, and these Government decisions regulate the entire process. “We ask all pensioners and beneficiaries to independently choose the paying organization, the bank, and independently obtain a bank card to which the next pension or benefit will be transferred non-cash by March 5 of this year. If this does not happen by March 5, we will do it automatically. And since there will be citizens who, for objective and subjective reasons, will not have done so, we will need sufficient time to deliver the cards home,” noted Arsen Torosyan.
The Government is amending and supplementing the procedure for providing subventions to communities from the state budget of the Republic of Armenia for the implementation of programs formed through participatory budgeting in the communities of the Republic of Armenia. As noted by the Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan, in the first two years the system was introduced on a pilot basis, and the amendments are an attempt to correct the problems that arose during the pilot implementation. According to the Minister, the goal of today's Government decision is also to make the program long lasting.
The Minister informed that the main changes relate to the clarifications of the voting mechanism: "It is established that a voting participant can vote for a maximum of 3 proposals, if they relate to different settlements of the community. In the case of proposals relating to the same settlement, a voting participant can vote for only one."
The Government's decision provides for co-financing a number of subvention programs for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 in the amount of 948,541.3 thousand drams. As noted by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Davit Khudatyan, it is planned to co-finance 18 subsidy programs of 16 communities: "This is the first co-financing of the state co-financing program, the state budget, this year."
