Thursday, 26 August 2010
Business environment being improved in the country
Chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, the Government met in a session at the Office of Government.
The meeting approved a package of amendments to the law on profit tax and six other legal acts, a set of draft laws on licensing fees to reduce the number of taxpayer statements, prescribe single terms for return submittal. Emphasizing that this will help improve the business environment as a whole, the Prime Minister said that every detail of the government’s new legislative initiatives should be given due media coverage.
The Cabinet approved a draft law on amendments to the customs code in an effort to enhance control efficiency through simpler procedures established for customs clearing and by introducing an electronic system of customs declarations.
The Government next endorsed a set of amendments to Republic of Armenia laws on diplomatic service and civil service. They shall streamline the procedures to follow in nominating and relieving RA extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors, prescribe fixed terms for tenure of office, simplify the rules applicable to diplomatic service vacancy competitions, amending the ranks and rotation terms, improving the diplomats’ living conditions and so on.
The above bills will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval in the manner established by law.
The Government took note of the report on anti-trafficking efforts in 2010.
The meeting passed a decision on liberalization of the activities of those entities exercising technical control for vehicles. According to this decision, motorcar owners will be allowed to choose among different operators. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said this amendment has to be reached out to all stakeholders as it affects the interests of many thousands of households.
17 out of over 50 agenda items referred to the improvements in the Ministry of Emergency Situations which proved to have functional overlaps and redundancies as aggravated by ineffective data sharing and decision-making mechanisms. Thursday Government’s decision is expected to address all of the aforementioned problems.
Wrapping up the session, Tigran Sargsyan told ministers and heads of government agencies to uphold the established traditional and visit the schools on September 1 in order to congratulate our teachers and schoolchildren on the startup of the upcoming academic year.
