Thursday, 13 June 2013
Government Makes Use Of Whole Toolkit To Help Out Armavir Marz Farmers
Chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, the Cabinet held an out-session at the memorial complex of Sardarapat in Armavir Marz.
The meeting started with Armavir Marz Governor Ashot Ghahramanyan’s report on five-month performance and socioeconomic situation in the Marz. On behalf of the local population and on his own behalf, the Governor thanked the authorities for all-out assistance rendered in the aftermath of the May 12 hailstorm.
The Prime Minister said surveys are normally being conducted in advance of out-sessions to assess the local socioeconomic situation and understand the population’s attitude to the Government, Marz administration, community leaders and government agencies. The latest poll witnessed a serious hailstorm-associated deviation in public opinion.
Feedbacks and reports were delivered by Central Bank Chairman, Head of State Water Committee, Minister of Healthcare, Minister of Education and Science, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Culture, deputy ministers of Emergency Situations and Urban Development. The meeting took note of their accounts and the report of the Chief of Government Staff on the analytical findings concerning Armavir Marz residents’ petitions, complaints and suggestions addressed to the central government.
To mitigate the damage caused by the hailstorm, the Minister of Agriculture was allowed to offset Nalbandian, Getashen, Aknashen, Shenik, Vanand and Arshaluys community farmers’ liabilities for 2011 and 2012 through the Seed Agency SNCO as assumed under the government’s seed-breeding program.
The government amended the State assistance program of affordable nitrogenous fertilizers in order to alleviate the losses suffered by Armavir and Lori marz farmers.
Summing up the debate, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said, “We used all the tools we had to ease our citizens’ burden in the wake of the disastrous hailstorm."
Based on Article 70 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, the meeting decided to suggest that the National Assembly Speaker should convene an extraordinary National Assembly session this June 18, 2013, at 12:00 to discuss some two dozen agenda items.
The government discussed the draft amendments to the laws “On the status of Yerkrapah volunteers" and “On welfare standing of servicemen and their family members," as moved by National Assembly members Manvel Grigoryan, Sedrak Saroyan and Samvel Farmanyan. The amendment provides that Yerkrapah volunteers should be granted a status equal to that of other servicemen along with the ensuing social guarantees. The government had no principled objection to this legislative initiative.
The meeting decided to extend the “temporary import for processed goods" customs regime for Nicola International, Armenia LLC until January 14, 2014. To remind, the Company has imported raw olives from Egypt, subject to follow-up canning and export. However, the Company was unable to do so due to economic instability in Egypt. The decision will help stabilize the company's financial position and maintain the existing jobs.
