Thursday, 21 July 2011
Road Safety in Spotlight
A cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
Before proceeding to the agenda, the Prime Minister referred to the problem of Sanahin monastic complex as commented on by Minister of Culture Hadmik Poghosyan. Tigran Sargsyan instructed to keep an eye on both this and other issues of top interest to mass media.
Down to the agenda, the cabinet endorsed the result of the encoding procedure as applied to the procurement, commissioning and maintenance of road safety surveillance systems for public needs, supposed to bring to a minimum the incidences of speed-limit violations and breaches to traffic rules and regulations. Such systems will be available at 10 crossroads and 15 highways by the end of 2011.
According to the Premier, this is a long-awaited measure for the police to not only exercise traffic monitoring but also to sanction the offenders. Besides, the need for driver-policeman contacts will be reduced minimizing corruption risks in this sphere.
Based on the findings of the tender announced for works on introduction of biometric passports and identity cards, the government selected two companies and approved the model form of contracts to be signed with them. The head of government reminded in this connection that under an arrangement concluded between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union, new passports will be made available to Armenian citizens as from the first quarter of 2012.
The government next backed the 2011 program of activities for Gyumri techno-park. The Economic Development Fund of Gyumri will be entrusted with the management of techno-park by implementing innovative and modernization projects, co-financing the World Bank-supported technology competitiveness enhancement program and setting up a consolidated software development, design and multimedia lab.
The meeting went on to approve national report on Armenia’s compliance with the Council of Europe convention on the fight against human trafficking.
The Executive backed the proposals on signing cooperation agreements with the People’s Republic of China and Turkmenistan on cooperation in the fields of trade and economy and veterinary services respectively.
The cabinet approved a set of draft amendments to the licensing law and 3 other legal acts in an effort to simplify the licensing procedures and bring them into conformity with the government’s policy line.
Since some contradictions have been revealed to the laws applicable in this sphere, namely that real estate evaluation licenses are granted by the Ministry of Finance, expert qualification is ensured by the State Committee on Immovable Property Cadastre by the Government with no control entity specified for this type of activities, the proposed process of de-licensing is expected to boost the sphere through more transparent and fair competition.
The aforementioned drafts will be submitted to the National Assembly in the manner established by law.
