Chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, a regular Cabinet meeting took place today.

Before discussing the issues on the agenda, at the proposal of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet members observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the devastating earthquake of Spitak. "Today is December 7, the anniversary of the catastrophic earthquake in Spitak of 1988, which killed around 25 thousand of our compatriots. Let's honor the memory of the victims of the earthquake with a minute of silence," said Nikol Pashinyan.

Moving on to the discussion of agenda issues, the government made redistribution of the funds allocated to the Ministry of Defense, directing 760 million AMD to the financing of state subsidies for the preferential and long-term mortgage loan program for servicemen. As Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan noted, in 2023, it was proposed to set the advance payment of the loan at a fixed number of 2.5 million AMD, instead of the previous 10 percent of the loan. Loan interest subsidy was set at 5 percent instead of previous 3 percent. "By the decision of the government, it is established that 500 servicemen can benefit from that opportunity per year, but as an example, let me mention that this year we provided this opportunity to the 1111 servicemen who submitted an application," said Suren Papikyan.

The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of the certification process of servicemen and added. "As the process of certification of servicemen is also taking place, and the financial capabilities of certified servicemen are increasing, we predict that the interest in this program will also increase. In fact, if we manage to maintain this pace, we will soon record that the issue of housing security for servicemen has not only been resolved, but also a mechanism has been established for the future. I also want to remind you that starting this year, the students and cadets who have been admitted to the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy since last year, who will serve in the Armed Forces, will already get an apartment, that is, they will get an apartment, not with a mortgage loan. Also, with all these mechanisms, we will practically solve the issue of housing security for our officers."

The Government adopted a decision "On donating residential areas", by which it is proposed to allocate apartments in a new building to 38 families living in emergency buildings.

The Government approved the 2024-2030 development strategy of physical culture and sports and its action plan. Accordingly, the strategic priorities of the state policy in the fields of physical culture and sports are defined. Presenting the issue, Minister of Educaton, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan emphasized that the development of sports and the promotion of healthy physical activity among the public is one of the important priorities of the Government's Action Plan. According to her, it is the result of this that our athletes have won 432 medals at the World and European Championships today, which is about 40% more than the 307 medals of last year, which was a record high for that time.

By the decision of the Government, Ararat Grigoryan was released from the position of the governor of Vayots Dzor. By another decision, Kolya Mikaelyan was appointed the governor of Vayots Dzor Province.