ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER: GOVERNMENT IS CONSISTENT IN CREATING FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS

NOYAN TAPAN
JULY 31, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. At the July 30 sitting, the Armenian
government made amendments and additions to the Government Decision No
1246 of December 24, 2001, on Approval of the Procedure of Granting
Certificates of the Country of Origin of a Commodity and Making an
Expert Examination. By the amendments, the payment for a certificate
of the country of origin to be granted by the RA Chamber of Commerce
and Industry has been fixed at 2,000 drams (about 18.5 USD) in case of
transportation of agricultural foodstuffs of up to 2.5 tons by natural
and juridical persons through the customs border. The certificate
will be granted within a working day. For agricultural foodstuffs
of up to 2.5 tons made in Armenia, a certificate of the country of
origin will be given without an expert examination report.

By another decision of the government, an amendment and addition
were made to the Appendix No 1 to the Government Decision No 1093
of August 30, 2007, as a result of which the procedure of granting
a certificate of phytosanitary inspection has been simplified. It
has been established that a phytosanitary certificate for exported
plants and products of plant origin will be granted only through a
phytosanitary examination, free of charge and within a working day.

In the words of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, these decisions bear
evidence of the fact that the government is consistent in creating
favorable conditions for small and medium business.

"Our studies showed that these amendments will play a significant
role in the agricultural sector. We have discussed this issue with
the chairman of the State Revenue Committee. The given regime allows
small and medium entrepreneurs to independently export and sell
their products in Georgia, with a simplified regime being used in
this process. When summarized, the results of the past six months
show that thanks to small and medium business, our resistibility has
considerably increased in conditions of the anticrisis measures – in
terms of both the financial resources managed by them and the amount
of goods they manufactured. Despite this circumstance, GDP fell by 16%,
while power consumption in small and medium business sector grew by 22%
instead of declining. This also indicates that the anticrisis measures
have had a positive impact because these are indices reflecting the
reality. I am convinced the indicated two decisions will significantly
promote exports of farmers’ economic goods," the prime minister said.