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

The Government has adopted a decision, as a result of which it will be possible to ensure the compensable expenses incurred by economic entities for the export of fruit (apricots, plums, cherries, strawberries), vegetables (tomatoes, peppers), flowers, bottled natural mineral water, bottled grape wine and bottled Armenian brandy or Armenian cognac. As noted by the Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan, back in early June, the Government adopted a support program with the aim of diversifying markets. “We provide financial support under the program if greenhouse products of Armenian origin, as well as fresh fruit and certain types of food and beverages are exported.” According to the Minister, the goal of the decision is to fulfill the obligations of the program related to exporters for June. "That is, they exported, we must provide them with financial support. In order to fulfill the obligations incurred in June for the implementation of the measure, it is necessary to compensate a total of 3 billion 140 million drams."

The Prime Minister noted that the balancing policy in the country’s economy is underway, that is, the export of 3 billion within 1 month indicates the acquisition of a significant market. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan recalled the decision made earlier that it is necessary to switch from the logic of conservation spending to the logic of development spending. "Now our task is that we have time within the next 1 year to prepare for the situation in which we will maximally diversify the exports of apricots and other agricultural products so that we do not have disproportionate dependence on any single market, in fulfillment of the thesis of the ideology of Real Armenia that independence is replacing dependence on the few with dependence on the many. In other words, if we export something to dozens of markets, an event unforeseen for us in any of these markets cannot affect our market. And in general, in the case of all products and everything, we must act according to this logic, and this is also the way to strengthen the sovereignty, independence and statehood of Armenia,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

The Minister of Economy, presenting the situation with market diversification, noted that during June-July, fruit was exported to 15 countries of the world, flowers to 25 countries, and vegetables to 8 countries.

The government made amendments and additions to the 2022-2027 program of state support for ensuring affordable housing for families in border and separate settlements of the Republic of Armenia. As noted by the First Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Artyom Smbatyan, there are currently 3,820 quotas under the program. According to him, as of July 1, 3,222 families have received beneficiary status within the framework of the state support program for ensuring housing for families in border and separate settlements, of which 2,695 have already been loaned, and 356 have submitted a completion certificate. Today's government decision proposes to establish that the financial assistance provided within the framework of the program, including real estate built with a mortgage loan, cannot be seized or confiscated due to other obligations of the beneficiary during the term of the mortgage loan.

The Government approved the procedure for calculating bonus points, applying coefficients, and making payments through them in the field of Universal Health Insurance. As noted by First Deputy Minister of Health Lena Nanushyan, the decision was developed based on the provisions of the Law “On Universal Health Insurance”. “We had established by law that bonus points are calculated in order to encourage a healthy lifestyle of an insured person if, during a given year, no other insurance compensation has been registered in his/her name, except for preventive services, i.e. screenings. In this case, the initial bonus points are transferred to the person’s bonus account after the end of the year. At the same time, also taking into account the important public health indicators for our population, we have also established additional indicators. When an insured person acts as a voluntary unpaid blood donor or a primary health care doctor registers periodically improving indicators aimed at a person’s healthy lifestyle, for example, normalization of body mass index, quitting smoking, etc., then in that case additional coefficients are also applied to bonuses. We will define them in more detail by order of the Minister of Health, both the procedures and the amounts of bonuses,” the Deputy Minister said.

Lena Nanushyan reported that it has been determined that the final bonus points cannot exceed 10% of the annual insurance premium, and these collected points can already be used for a number of purposes after the end of the year: “They can be used to pay the insurance premium, purchase a voluntary medical insurance package, pay co-payments, as well as for subscription fees to gyms and swimming pools.” The decision will come into force on January 1, 2029.