Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the discussion entitled “Economic Examination. SME Tomorrow”. The event was organized by the “SME Cooperation Association” NGO with the support of the “Foundation for the Development of Democracy”.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan, members of the SME Cooperation Association Board, heads and members of the Association’s regional offices, and SME representatives.

Nikol Pashinyan first congratulated everyone on Taxpayer’s Day, emphasizing this key factor in the context of state-business relations. “There is a tax - there is a state, there is no tax - there is no state, there is a tax - there are issues that have been resolved or are being resolved, there is no tax - then no issues are being resolved. Therefore, in general, our perception is in that logic and in the logic that tax policy should stimulate people so that they generate more results and pay more taxes, because if that does not happen, it means that development is not taking place," the Prime Minister said.

Speaking about the development of small and medium-sized businesses, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that no economic relationship will be successful in the country if the attitude towards taxes does not change, since the historical perception that taxes are a means of enrichment and a means of suppressing by the state must be overcome. In this context, the Prime Minister spoke about the importance of correctly presenting the tax system, since the recent amendments have created wide opportunities, tax rate reductions have been made up to 1%, 1.5%, depending on the sector.

The Prime MInister emphasized that a certain institutional system must be thought out, for example, there should be an organization to protect the interests of small and medium-sized businesses. The Prime Minister emphasized that the Government is ready to finance this organization with co-financing from small and medium-sized businesses. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan added that as a result, the work will be coordinated, all ministries and structures will know that this is the institutional channel for work, that is, there will be an institution that is not state-owned, but in fact is also co-financed by the state. “A layer is being formed whose duty is to work with the Government, to collect and bring issues.”

Next, issues related to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, continuous improvement of tax administration, support tools, existing problems in the sector and their solutions were discussed.