Thursday, 19 June 2008
Statement by RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan at Briefing with Journalists
"I am going to make 4 statements at this routine meeting with you. Twenty days ago, the President of the Republic called an extended meeting, attended by representatives of large, small and medium-size business where we discussed the key problems facing tax and customs administrations. The chief idea voiced by the President consisted in that public and private sectors have common interests in the area of entrepreneurship, namely to provide domestic businesses with the possibility of speedy development. On the instructions of the President of the Republic, a complex program on improvements in tax and customs administrations has been designed and committed to the judgment of the public. This program has been given high appreciation by international experts.
My first statement is that the program envisaged establishment of a Prime Minister-headed supreme council on introduction of new revenue management practices. The whole body of council membership is in attendance of this meeting and we can declare that the council is operational now. The council will have to coordinate the reforms in tax and customs administrations, watch over these processes and keep in touch with the public-at-large and business organizations.
The second statement is as follows: a monitoring group headed by Aram Gharibyan will be established by the supreme council. A telephone number and an e-mail address will be available for our citizens to communicate their concerns and observations to the council. This is meant to provide for feedback with the society regarding the program status, those positive and negative implications identified during the implementation stage in order to ensure smooth progress in the reform process.
My third statement bears on one of our key priorities: providing better conditions for the development of small and medium-size business. Small and medium-size business is supposed to be the State
's partner and should feel that the State provides all the necessary support for the development of small and medium-size business. To this end, we declare that the small and medium-size business development regional centers, operational in all marzes of the Republic, will assist small and medium-size businesses with the introduction of tax and customs administration-related programs. This means that they will be able to reach the services provided by these centers by means of said hotline numbers and web addresses. Henceforth, these centers will assist our entrepreneurs by providing advice and information to business entities concerning the logic of reforms. The main principles are as follows, in particular: Bureaucracy must be minimized in the sphere of small and medium-size business with the share of support in the form of affordable lending having to be maximized over time. Also, we must shape such an environment as would allow specialized bodies to ensure liaising between small and medium-size business and tax authorities, with the government having to take serious extra steps towards lowering the fees charged by these specialized entities for their services.And, finally, my fourth and, perhaps, the most important statement is that I would like to earnestly ask the public-at-large and mass media to back us with these initiatives. Your backing will help us carry into effect the reforms. You may understand that reforms will not become a reality unless backed and trusted by you."
In conclusion, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan answered journalists
' questions relative to those issues raised during the meeting.***
Notification:
Any requests for getting small and medium-size business-related consultancy and assistance may be sent to the National Center for Small and Medium-size Business Development at: info@smednc.am. Information on center activities is available at: www.smednc.am.
Your comments and proposals regarding the overall reform of the system of tax and customs administration may be communicated through the following hotline number of the Prime Minister-decreed Supreme Council on Introduction of New Revenue Management Practices: 527-000. Otherwise, they should be addressed at: hotline@gov.am.
