Saturday, 28 January 2017
Karen Karapetyan: “We should be short of days to complete the reforms”
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan held a consultative meeting to discuss progress in the implementation of the government program. The Prime Minister said that the works should be based on procedures, expected per-agency investment, performance discipline, timing, as well as on State property management, alienation and public feedback.
Karen Karapetyan asked the Ministers about the progress in the activities aimed at implementing the government program. The Prime Minister also spoke about the agencies’ compliance with the assignments, pointing to a number of problems.
“We have business management-related problems with our partners in the provinces and communities. This is unacceptable. I will be strictly monitoring performance. Overdue assignments represent a violation of partnership ethics. Reforms do not imply a quiet mode: reforms should be implemented without a moment's respite. We should be short of days to complete the reforms,” the Premier said.
State agencies submit investment programs
The heads of State agencies were instructed by the Prime Minister to make an inventory of investment projects in their respective areas and introduce the investment packages expected for 2017. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for International Economic Integration and Reforms Vache Gabrielyan reported that 249 investment projects had already been received from State agencies as a follow-up to the Prime Minister’s recommendation, based on the following criteria: funding source, program launch, performance forecast for 2017 and creation of new jobs.
The Prime Minister urged the heads of agencies to submit proposals on investment projects within the specified deadline. Asked about the possibility of including in the package those projects received from the regions, the Premier told them to assess the projects according to business logic and include the eligible projects in this list.
“We have diagnosed the problems faced by each department and outlined the vision of what we need to do. We have already taken specific steps in tune with that vision. According to the reference note, there are 249 initiatives with clear-cut financial sources. The approximate analysis shows that they may be implemented in 2017 and continued into 2018,” Karen Karapetyan pointed out.
PM instructs to complete the development of State Property Management and Alienation Program
Head of State Property Management Department by the Government Arman Sahakian reported that a new privatization program has been developed in cooperation with all government agencies, based on the Prime Minister’s recommendations, which has already been sent to the Government and will be submitted to the National Assembly after a final debate.
Karen Karapetyan told the Head of State Property Management Department to complete work as soon as possible and prepare the whole package for approval: “We need to clearly define which of the property should be run by the State. We have a lot of assets, the managers of which keep stating bad figures from year to year. Meanwhile, we have neither fired the managers nor taken appropriate steps to address the situation,” the Head of Government said, stressing the need to suspend those managers who are not working effectively.
With reference to the efforts aimed at raising public awareness of State agency-implemented programs, Karen Karapetyan highlighted the need to provide continued feedback and instructed the heads of government agencies to develop a public awareness strategy and a specific action plan for each individual sector.
