A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The government has adopted a decision, by which it is planned to double the one-time payment to athletes. As the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan noted, the athletes representing Armenia at the European and World Championships in 2022 have shown an unprecedented result. "As of December 6, 2022, we already had 298 medals, of which 103 were gold, 69 were silver and 126 were bronze. As of now, we have already crossed the threshold of 300, because there are tournaments these days as well. The highest result recorded so far was in 2019, athletes won 222 medals," said the Minister.

Accordingly, it is proposed to double the one time payment to the athletes participating in Olympic, Paralympic, fencing games, sports included in the Olympic Games program, as well as sambo wrestling, international checkers, wushu and chess sports not included in the Olympic Games program, in the World and European Championships, also for athletes with disabilities, in the European Games 1- the amounts of monetary prizes awarded to athletes who took 9 to 3 places, head (senior) coaches of national teams, personal coaches of medal-winning athletes and second coaches of national teams. In particular, the athletes who took the 1st-3rd places in the World Championships will receive 10, 7 and 4 million AMD instead of 5, 3.5 and 2 million AMD prizes, respectively. The head coaches of national teams, personal trainers of medal winning athletes will receive 5, 3.5 and 2 million AMD instead of 2.5, 1.75 and 1 million AMD. The total sum currently amounts to AMD 707,630,000, there are 170 beneficiaries of the program, and the list of award winners will be presented for signing in the near future.

Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the adopted decision and noted. "Yes, this year we have many tangible successes in the field of sports, and I consider this to be the result of our policy in the field. It is an important record with the following logic: you are aware that in the transformation strategy of Armenia until 2050, we formulated a task to have 25 Olympic gold medals by that date. This year's indicators also show that when the state provides support to the sector, the sector responds very quickly. I am also happy to see that athletes who receive such support for their achievements, make greater achievements in the future. I want to say that this investment leads to the raising of Armeni’s international recognition, there are many chain results here and, after all, we support our talented athletes. We must continue this policy."

The government has agreed to donate community-owned plots of land located in the administrative boundaries of Armavir community of Armavir Province to the "Children of Armenia" charity fund. In the sidelines of the project a new COAF Smart Training Center, convention center, event center and café, COAF Smart Greenhouse, modern sports complex, renewable energy plant, innovative business idea center and modern support infrastructures will be established, which will be implemented in the next decade, and the total investment for the project will exceed 10 million US dollars.

By the decision of the Government, 2,188,023.7 thousand AMD will be allocated to the regional administrations of Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Lori, Kotayk, Syunik and Vayots Dzor for the implementation of subsidy programs. As noted by Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan, the money will be allocated for 49 projects in 23 communities. "As a result of allocating this amount, it will turn out that the government has co-financed 502 subsidy projects this year with 17.7 billion AMD," said the Minister, adding that another government decision on the allocation of co-ffunding of subsidy projects is planned before the end of the year.

The Prime Minister once again emphasized the importance of proper quality control of the works being carried out.