Thursday, 27 July 2017
Government set to draw clear distinction between forest management and preservation functions
A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. Prior to the discussion of the agenda issues, the Prime Minister gave a number of instructions.
Regarding the forestry reform, the Prime Minister stated in part, “We have repeatedly touched upon the problems faced in the forest sector and the need for a comprehensive reform. The proposed concept of forestry reform is far from suggesting satisfactory solutions to issues related to the protection of forests, the fight against illegal logging, as well as the imperative of improving the relevant agencies’ work efficiency. Moreover, the document does not contain recommendations for necessary legislative amendments.”
To that end, the Head of Government instructed the ministers of Agriculture, Nature Protection, Territorial Administration and Development to jointly develop and submit to the Government Staff a revised draft of the concept of forestry reform, which should stipulate practical and legislative solutions to the aforementioned issues with reference made to clear distinction of forest management and conservation functions, establishment of a unified organizational field in this sphere. They were also told to envisage short implementation deadlines.
“We have several forestry organizations whose functions are not clearly defined. We want to have an authority to control and oversee the structure entrusted with management functions so that the conflict of interest might result in higher operational efficiency,” Karen Karapetyan pointed out.
Taking into account the need for extra measures in the field of tourism, the Prime Minister gave the relevant departments a month’s time to explore the possibility of additional liberalization or simplification of the visa regime for persons arriving in Armenia and submit recommendations to the Government Staff. The Civil Aviation General Department shall develop and submit to the Government Staff a comprehensive package of proposals regarding the trends in tourism, the domestic market demand for airborne passenger traffic, the expansion of geographical coverage and the airline ticketing schemes.
In order to ensure the proper start of the 2017-2018 academic year, Karen Karapetyan instructed the Minister of Education and Science, the Marz Governors and proposed to the Mayor of Yerevan to bring to completion by August 25, 2017 all construction and renovation activities in the schools of Armenia. “In case of eventual failures, you must have strict sanctions enforced,” the Prime Minister emphasized.
The Head of Government instructed to undertake efforts with a view to replenishing the teaching staff for specialized subjects in the educational institutions of borderline and high-mountain communities. The Premier’s education-related assignment was issued with due consideration of the presidential instructions concerning the reimbursement of the cost of textbooks for students from border regions and the application of a special mechanism to deal with tuition fees.
The meeting approved a schedule-action plan for liberalization of Armenia’s electric power market and development of interstate trade. This will help liberalize the domestic energy market and promote mutually beneficial cross-border trade, which in turn may lead to enhanced efficiency in power system’s operations.
In order to increase transparency in the State order allocation process and provide for a more targeted and effective use of budget funds, the Government amended one of its previous decisions. Under the proposed model, in the person of the Ministry of Healthcare, the Government shall provide health insurance for welfare package beneficiaries registered with such healthcare institutions as may have applied for health insurance license and the Social Package Beneficiary Insurance Program.
The beneficiaries will be allowed to turn to any medical institution featuring on the above program and get the eligible medical services upon submittal of identification documents without the need of producing any other certificates.
The Prime Minister wanted to know when the new system was going to be introduced. “We are set to implement the project for six months, after which 612 thousand representatives of vulnerable families will be included in the program. After monitoring the program over a period of one year, the Law on Compulsory Insurance will be proposed,” Minister of Healthcare Levon Altunyan said.
The meeting approved the Government’s legislative initiative on making amendments to the law “On the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia” and a number of related legal acts. The amendments were necessitated by the adoption of the new constitution of the Republic of Armenia, which changes the objectives and the procedures of the Central Bank of Armenia and the formation of governing bodies.
The Cabinet next approved the staffing and the number of employees of the Ethics Committee of High-Ranking Officials
