FINANCIAL CONTROL IS BEING IMPROVED

Thu rsday, 21 January 2010

A Cabinet session was held under chairmanship of Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan.

The Government of the Republic of Armenia made changes to the
government decree of June 10, 1999, referred to as "On approval
of procedure to follow in servicing, recording and overseeing
extra-budgetary funds of State and other establishments." The decision
provides for a unified process in the management of budgetary and
extra-budgetary funds and enhanced efficiency in financial management
and oversight.

The Government decided to allocate USD 100.0 thousand-equivalent dram
from its reserve fund to RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to
help the Republic of Haiti to cope with the impact of the devastating
earthquake of January 12, 2010.

The Government made changes to a previous government decree concerning
the 3-year holiday in VAT settlements accorded to NatFood JSC for
import of goods and commodities exceeding the amount of AMD 300mn.

This amendment was made in an effort to improve the draft statute of
JSC. Considering that 5 economic entities have already benefited from
this anti-crisis measure, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan concluded
that the latter has proved successful and, therefore, can be extended
to other entities as well.

SME support continues to be a major focus for the Armenian government.

As the concept of Armenia’s industrialization was endorsed at the
previous Cabinet sitting, the Government went on to approve the 2010
program of State support to small and medium-size enterprises. This
was done in an effort to uplift this priority area which is a pivotal
element of GDP.

The Government approved the manner in which the title to the
water systems serviced by HayJrmoughKoyughi CJSC will be subject
to transfer on a competitive basis, the program of action for
improvement of Armenia’s business environment, the summary report of
the interdepartmental commission on the special complex expertise
conducted for the combined cycle flame unit of Yerevan, according
to which the unit’s design papers comply with Armenian laws and
normative requirements.

The executive further approved: the package of safety standards for
open-cast development of mineral deposits in Armenia, the program
of providing safety zones in the local section of Armenia-Georgia
400 kW overhead transmission line, the manner in which support will
be extended to those persons having applied for repatriation or
asylum in getting entry visas into their countries of origin or third
countries, the results of the international tender on the procurement
of consulting services by the project management board for rural
road section and lifeline road rehabilitation program as financed
by the Asian Bank and the World Bank, under which "Channakhagits"
Institute and "Transnakhagits" Institute have won the tender.

In conclusion, the Government endorsed two bills to be submitted to
the National Assembly for consideration.