Thursday, 22 May 2014
Welfare Assistance To Be More Targeted
A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.
Amending a previous decision, the Government redistributed the 2014 State budget funds to allocate a total of AMD250mn for payment of lump-sum childbirth benefits for children born before January 1, 2014 as follows: AMD 50 thousand for first and second children (1890 in total) and AMD 430 thousand for third and subsequent children (355 in total).
In a bid to streamline the State benefit-related regulatory framework, the Government revoked 14 previous decisions regarding the 2005 law on State benefits, which was deemed null and void following the adoption of the new law on State benefits on December 12, 2013.
With a decision passed on August 1, 2013, the Government established a welfare service package for those households in need of housing. Today’s meeting amended the aforementioned decision to streamline the procedure applicable to the package and to ensure regular operations of Welfare Housing Service Center SNCO.
The Government next decided to allocate to Armenia British Business School CJSC 275m2 premises in the educational building located at Nalbandian-128 in Yerevan. The school is set to become an international institution to provide services not only to Armenian students, but also to foreign citizens in English language.
The meeting approved the Government’s conclusions on Central Bank’s final report on implementation of monetary policy in 2013 and the 2014 report on monetary policy.
The Cabinet approved the proposal to sign a cooperation agreement in the field of scientific and technical information between the CIS-member States. Note that as approved by the CIS Economic Council last December 13, the draft agreement envisaged voluntary exchange of scientific and technical information.
The meeting approved the proposal to sign a protocol on amendments to the CIS agreement on commodity country of origin determination rules. The document seeks to ensure proper application of the free trade regime between the CIS countries.
The Executive also approved the proposal to sign a cooperation agreement between the CIS-member States in the field of transport security-related information. The document seeks to streamline both public policy and regulatory framework in this field.
