Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Workshop on radical improvement of business environment in Armenia
A Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan-chaired consultative meeting was held in the Office of Government on business environment improvement in Armenia.
Prioritizing business environment improvement efforts, the Prime Minister said that all the agencies were directed to take steps in order to improve Armenia’s Doing Business standing.
The head of government reminded that the President’s electoral platform had a key focus on improvement of Armenia’s Doing Business standing so that it could be promoted into the top ten of best performing countries of the world. No progress has been recorded so far due to the slow pace of reform in our country. Tax administration component was said to be the most serious bottleneck on this way: Armenia is the 159th in this respect. Our country is the 82nd for cross-border trade performance indicator (21 points up). We have problems with the protection of consumer rights with our 93rd standing on the list.
Construction licensing index is 6 points down to the 78th standing. We are concerned about poor performance in terms of company closure, lending accessibility and business startup. As far as ownership registration is concerned, we are the 5th, a step down over last year’s result.
First Deputy Minister of Economy Karine Minasyan presented a draft action plan on improvement of business environment in Armenia after which opinions were exchanged on ways of simplifying business startup- and development-related procedures, boosting small and medium-size businesses, encouraging foreign trade, improving tax and customs administration and so on.
Wrapping up the meeting, the Prime Minister ordered to set up task forces composed of concerned agency representatives in order to submit by next Friday proposals on radical improvement of business environment in Armenia.
