Interfax, Russia
March 20 2009

ARMENIAN PM PRESENTS GOVERNMENT’S ANTI-CRISIS PLAN

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan presented the government’s
anti-crisis concept to journalists on Friday.First, we should bolster
our country’s immunity [to the global crisis]. To this end, we should
significantly strengthen infrastructure and provide assistance to
small and medium-sized businesses and to enterprises that are
experiencing temporary difficulties, can increase their export
potential, and use local agriculture products and resources. These are
the three key points of our anti-crisis concept, Sargsyan said
following a meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan and leaders of
political parties, at which they discussed implications of the global
economic crisis.

The social programs that we are planning to carry out should
significantly downplay the difficulties, which chiefly the low-income
strata of society are facing, Sargsyan said.

The prime minister also praised the format of the Friday discussion,
which he said helped the president and the government to hear
criticism and proposals on overcoming the financial crisis.

The proposals particularly concerned the tax area, the scope of
taxation, the degree to which the state can intervene in various
fields and curb prices, and so on. What counts most is that the party
leaders who were present at the discussion expressed their willingness
to help the state find ways out of the current situation, he said.

The president discussed implications of the global economic crisis for
the Armenian economy with the leaders of 48 parties on Friday.

Presidential spokesman Samvel Farmanian told journalists that the
invitations to take part in the debates were sent to 63 out of the 72
parties officially registered in Armenia.

The remaining nine parties are either undergoing liquidation
procedures, or have actually stopped their activities, or do not have
an elected chairman, Farmanian said.