Thursday, 4 April 2013
Employment: Armenia’s Number One Concern
A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
Proceeding from a previous decision concerning the 2013-2018 employment strategy, the government approved the concept of the Law on Employment outlining the basic approaches and mechanisms to develop and implement a national employment policy, including the possibility of enjoying enhanced flexibility, delegating program implementation powers to non-governmental employment services, viewing professional orientation as a separate program, testing new software and so on.
The Premier instructed the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs to raise the public’s awareness of the new concept. “It is no secret that employment is the number one problem in the Republic of Armenia, and people keep on complaining about the lack of jobs,” the Prime Minister said.
In 2011-2012 economic entities were provided 32.2 billion dram in affordable lending, subsidized by 4 percentage points, while 225 most vulnerable communities enjoyed a 6% subsidy on interest. Last September the government extended the term of subsidy up till December 31 for new loans. Today’s Cabinet sitting decided to set new terms, namely from March 15 through December 31, 2013.
The decision comes ahead of the spring farming campaign to ensure proper implementation of activities, including cultivation, harvest management, preparation of autumn sowing campaign etc.
The Minister of Agriculture was told to hold joint consultations with the Ministry of Economy and other agencies concerned to discuss the issue of sales. Tigran Sargsyan reminded that farmers faced specific sales-related problems last year. “With the beginning of the new harvesting season, we will experience the same problem as our farmers’ assets are not sufficient to get procurement loans. Therefore, we need to proceed to work right now well aware of the priorities set for 2013.”
Considering the recommendations of the interagency commission as set up by the Prime Minister’s decree of March 2, 2012, the meeting decided to reimburse the households suffered from the failed development project at Arami 72-80. In order to grant a full refund of actual losses, the government decided to sell the building located at Arami 72-76 to D&H Group Ltd, with the beneficiaries to get apartments at the unfinished facility located at Tsitsernakaberd Highway ½, which is owned by the above company, as well as at the residential building of Arami 72-76.
The government agreed to the proposal of signing an agreement between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the CIS Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund (HHMH) on the terms and conditions of the Fund’s field office operations in Armenia.
From the very first days of the Fund’s activities, Armenia has been taking an active share in its programs. 8 projects have been implemented since 2009, including the A. Khachaturyan contest, the CIS conference of translators and publishers, the CIS Section of the Golden Apricot international film festival etc.
The driver’s licenses given to those Syrian Arab Republic citizens of Armenian origin having immigrated into Armenia due to the latest events fail to meet the requirements of the Convention on Road Traffic of November 8, 1968 and, as a result, cannot be exchanged in our country.
Thanks to today’s decision, the aforementioned substandard licenses can be exchanged without taking a qualification exam. Syrian Armenians will be provided Armenian licenses for a period of one year, pending the passage of qualification exams.
