Today, the regular Cabinet meeting took place, chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

The Government adopted a decision, in particular, conditioned by the clarification of the result indicators for the scientific categories. As noted by the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia Zhanna Andreasyan, it is proposed to make changes to the procedure for attestation of scientific personnel, which was approved at the end of 2023. According to the Minister, the purpose of the change is to clarify a number of concepts defined in the procedure, as well as the result indicators for the categories of scientific workers, so that during the attestation, which is planned to be carried out at the end of 2026, we can avoid misinterpretations and ambiguous actions as much as possible. The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports noted that this process is a continuation of the Government's policy of reforms and increased investments in the science sector. "In particular, within the framework of the salary standardization policy launched in 2022, which ended on January 1, 2025, that is, from January 1, 2025, scientific salaries were standardized according to the current certification category, and as a result, we actually have at least a doubling of salaries compared to 2021, and for some positions and categories, the salary has even quadrupled," the minister said. Zhanna Andreasyan emphasized that this policy is already bearing fruit. Publications by Armenian scientists are increasing year by year, in particular, according to the results of 2023, the historically largest volume of scientific publications in prestigious international journals was recorded. It was also noted that growth is also being recorded in the field of social sciences and humanities, thanks to the policy pursued in the field.

Responding, Nikol Pashinyan noted that this decision is about the fact that the decision and package of reforms adopted in 2021 were not perfect and informed that he has received numerous letters from specialists in the field on the topic. "If we had continued to work, I suppose we would have continued to work for several more years to achieve perfection. But I continue to hold the opinion that until any reform meets life, it does not show shortcomings," the Prime Minister said.

The Government adopted a decision “On the Repossession and Consolidation of Property,” which envisages the repossession and consolidation of 423 vehicles registered in the balance sheets of 52 bodies to the State Property Committee for further alienation. It is also planned to complete the process of handover and acceptance within 4 months after the decision enters into force. Commenting on the decision, Nikol Pashinyan noted: "Even today we have a fairly reduced number of official cars, but after this decision, the number of official cars in the Republic of Armenia will reach a historical minimum. I assume that there have never been fewer official cars in the history of our country. This is important in two ways: we encourage representatives of government bodies to communicate more with people, and we also try to make budget spending more efficient. Of course, this is also an issue that we need to monitor continuously and see what mechanisms exist to improve efficiency, and also to avoid harming work efficiency in some places."

The government has adopted a decision that will contribute to the improvement of the set of tools aimed at increasing enrollment in the field of preschool education, and the clarification of target groups receiving support from the state budget. The decision proposes to launch a pilot program that will change the procedure for financing preschool educational institutions. “In particular, we plan to try to launch a new program within 10 groups, that is, for about 200 children, which will be implemented in a number of communities. The communities and institutions were selected as a result of discussions with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure and the Yerevan Municipality. For the pilot program, we will have 4 institutions in Yerevan, in one of which we will start the education program for group 1 for children aged 6-12 months. In Vanadzor and Gyumri - 2 each, and in Hrazdan - 1 institution, where children will be included in the nursery service starting from the age of 1,” said Zhanna Andreasyan, adding that the cost of the program was estimated at about 175 million AMD.

The Prime Minister touched upon the universal declaration and noted that through it we are creating an infrastructure to return 70 billion AMD to citizens. It was also noted that it is very important that with this year's declaration, people can also receive that amount for the previous year. "It is very important that we also develop and amend our procedures in the near future so that an opportunity is created to realize those amounts," Nikol Pashinyan said. The Prime Minister once again emphasized the need to ensure proper information about the details of the process.