The regular sitting of the Government of Armenia took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Before discussing the issue on the agenda, the Prime Minister welcomed the newly elected Human Rights Defender Kristine Grigoryan and wished her success in her future work. "We expect that the efficiency of the Human Rights Defender's Institute in Armenia will increase and will help the state bodies of the Republic of Armenia to raise the level of human rights protection in the country," Nikol Pashinyan said.

Starting the discussion of the agenda issues, the Government approved the program of support to the land users of the Republic of Armenia for the acquisition of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers at affordable prices. The program will be implemented in 2022 in all regions. Fertilizer per beneficiary will be provided for cultivation in a maximum of 3 hectares of land. The program will be implemented with a 50% subsidy or compensation of the selling price of the fertilizer sold by the suppliers to the beneficiaries, but not more than 9000 AMD per 1 bag of fertilizer weighing 50 kg. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the adopted decision, noting that by that the Government is responding to the inflation in the market. The head of the Government noted that now it is more obvious that traditional agriculture has no future, no perspective. "We have adopted more than 11 development programs in the field of agriculture, which do not work at sufficient scale. Here we have to be consistent."

The Government has also approved a pilot program on supporting investment programs in the livestock sector in the Republic of Armenia. Accordingly, it is proposed to provide a maximum of 5 stages of compensation to farmers within the framework of investment programs in the livestock sector in all regions of Armenia, with a maximum of 35% of compensation of the total investment per beneficiary, but not more than 3.5 billion AMD, and not more than 2.8 billion AMD for poultry.

The Government has adopted a relevant decision to ensure the implementation of the "Reconstruction of Roads of State Significance" and "Reconstruction of Transportation Facilities" initiatives of the "Road Network Improvement" program envisaged by the state budget of the Republic of Armenia. Accordingly, it is proposed to allocate 6.2 billion AMD to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia to ensure the implementation of these measures. In general, the length of the roads under reconstruction envisaged by the project is 26.1 km, of which interstate highways - 17.4 km, republican highways - 8.7 km.

The Government has redistributed the state budget, amending one of the previous decisions due to the requirement to have a preliminary task for the Yeraskh and Meghri sections of the railway restoration project. According to that, it is envisaged to carry out 43 km geodetic survey works for the preparation of the preliminary task of the restoration of Yeraskh and Meghri sections of the Armenian Railways. It is necessary to carry out visual-instrumental and laboratory examinations, and reporting works of 9 tunnels (3050m), 22 halls (2400m), 5 intersections, 2 bridges, 20km of roads, 10km of irrigation pipeline, and 4 station building in the mentioned area. Nikol Pashinyan reminded that this section of the railway is the Armenian section of the Yeraskh-Sadarak-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway. "This is a very important event, I want to express hope again that we will de jure document the agreements reached during the 2021 trilateral meetings in Sochi and Brussels. But till then the work does not stop. In other words, we are working simultaneously to use time rationally", the Prime Minister said. The Head of the Government also noted that all this is observed within the framework of the "Armenian Crossroads" project. "It is very important that we are now also working on the possible routes of highways, including new highways. And it is very important that we are also discussing the issue of integrating that route with the North-South project. We are already initiating field work in this direction as well, in order to make it more specific.”

The Government has made a decision to regulate the export of copper and molybdenum concentrate, as well as ferromolybdenum-molybdenum to third countries. The procedure envisages the issuance of a license for those exported goods, which will indicate the quantity of the exported goods, and the applicant may export it in separate batches within the period defined by the license, completing the limit specified in the license. The Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan reminded that for about 6 months the ministry had come up with the initiative to impose an additional duty on the export of copper and molybdenum concentrate, as well as ferromolybdenum and other similar products.