Friday, 9 August 2013
Armenia Prime Minister: Competitive Armenia Means Knowledge-Based Nation
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan called at the summer camp of “Miasin” youth movement on the shore of Lake Sevan. The Premier got familiar with the holiday-makers’ daily life and camping conditions.
The head of government talked to the campers, answering their questions and presenting his vision of development.
“Competitive Armenia means a knowledge-based nation. This is the foundation of our country. To be considered as a developed country, we should be quick responsive to rapid changes, which implies the generation of new knowledge,” Tigran Sargsyan emphasized.
In this context, the Prime Minister made a point of having young people looking forth to developing knowledge and implementing new ideas. He highlighted the ability of educational institutions to administer premium-quality education.
The Prime Minister informed that one of the primary objectives of his government for the coming years is the international accreditation of at least five Armenian universities, which is the first precondition for high-quality education. When asked about the most important reforms carried out in our country over the past few years, the head of government highlighted the introduction of a funded pension system, which is due to take effect from 1 January 2014.
“We had been preparing the introduction of this system for as long as 10 years. It targets all members of society, and covers all areas of activity. This model calls for a change in general thinking, and our society will change qualitatively in the next five years. From now on, your pension and your prosperous old age will be a concern not only to the State, but also to you starting from the very first days of your employment. First of all, you need to select a fund to open up a personal account. Then, you will have to make monthly payments to the personal account so established to the rate of 5 percent of your income,” Tigran Sargsyan said addressing the youth.
The Prime Minister stressed that Armenia’s funded pension system is estimated as a model by the World Bank, since the reform was developed taking into account the positive and negative experiences of other countries. As an effective reform, the Prime Minister singled out the introduction of an electronic database in the pension system leading to substantially reduced abuse and corruption risks in addition to huge amounts saved in this way.
“In addition, it takes only 15 minutes to have a business registered online in Armenia which is of paramount importance to the business environment. We are among top four countries in the world enabling citizens to monitor State budget expenditure from elsewhere in the world. This provides for accountability in public spending, to which we attach great importance,” Tigran Sargsyan said touching on the ongoing reforms.
Asked so by those in attendance, the Prime Minister dwelt on a variety of topics relating to culture, education and other spheres.
Operational under the motto “Combating evil practices to promote reform,” the camp hosts some 200 youth activists from “Miasin” movement.
