Thursday, 28 February 2013
Government Set To Work Harder In 2013
A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
The Premier made public Armenia’s key economic indicators for 2012 as summarized by the National Statistics Service. GDP grew 7.2% last year - 0.2% over the presidential target. “The reported high index implies that we should work harder in 2013. We have projected a 6.2% growth in 2013, which means that we will have to make a greater effort to achieve this goal. Dear colleagues, I am hereby asking you to get to work at once so that all our programs may turn into reality,” the head of government said.
The government decided to merge the high school of Por village of Vayotz-Dzor Marz with the Azatek village secondary school, as well as to reorganize “Vanadzor” school of advanced mathematics and natural sciences operational by Lori marz administration and “Photon” college SNCO by Gyumri town hall putting them under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Science. This is expected to increase the efficiency of the educational process.
Making sure that the decision stemmed from the logic of the educational reform, Tigran Sargsyan stressed the need for improving the quality of teaching physics and mathematics at school. The discussion involved the Minister of Education and Science, the Minister of Transport and Communications and the President of the National Academy of Sciences. Summing up the discussion, the Prime Minister said, “We need to build on our competitive advantage in this field because we have always been at the forefront in physics and mathematics, which accounts for our country’s economic priorities. We are embarking on such projects as imply the availability of highly skilled professionals.”
Whereas bids keep coming from Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Syunik, Lori, Kotayk, Tavush provinces, ministries and several regional farming assistance centers for additional 300 thousand liters of diesel fuel and over 4 thousand tons of nitrogenous fertilizers, the meeting decided to meet the farmers’ demand and increase the amount of subsidies and grants. As noticed by the Prime Minister, the State has in this way complied with the bids in full.
Amending a previous decree, the government decided to allocate AMD 680m to the Ministry of Agriculture for implementing flood-countering measures in Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Lori, Syunik, Vayots-Dzor and Tavush provinces of Armenia.
The meeting complied with the request of Ashot Giziryan to relieve him of the office of Shirak Marz Governor. Reminding that Ashot Giziryan had asked the Prime Minister for resignation a few days ago, Tigran Sargsyan advised that following a private meeting with the Governor himself, he realized that the rumors over the reasons behind the resignation did not reflect the truth. In conclusion, Tigran Sargsyan thanked Ashot Giziryan for good work.
Instead, the meeting declined the resignation of Armavir Mayor Ruben Khlghatyan considering that half-way through his term in office Mr. Khlghatyan had several liabilities and commitments to complete and should continue in office in order to provide for smooth implementation of community programs. “I feel that this is the right approach: political motives should not become a reason for resignation,” the Prime Minister said.
