YEREVAN, JULY 17, ARMENPRESS. Strengthening the resilience of the southern part of Armenia, support for small and medium businesses, "Green Yerevan" program: In a briefing with European Council President Charles Michel in Yerevan, caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan outlined the areas in which the $ 2.6 billion EU assistance will be spent. The first direction is support for SMEs.

‘’At the same time, I would like to emphasize that innovation in small and medium business plays a very important role here. We will support the modernization of small and medium-sized businesses and the compliance with international standards. I also encourage women's economic activity and leadership. The majority of our population are women, and it is very important that the economic potential of women will be fully utilized in the economic development of the country’’, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan as saying.

The next direction is the strengthening of the resilience of the southern part of Armenia. It is planned to implement an 80 million euro program aimed at infrastructure development. Nikol Pashinyan noted that during the pre-election campaign they separated key issues related to drinking water supply, access to pastures and other issues. He noted that there is a great potential for the development of tourism, and measures are taken in that direction as well.

''The next direction is the North-South program. We will soon announce a tender for the Agarak-Sisian section of the road, where there are tunnels and bridges. It will be a construction of unprecedented scale, and The European Union is ready to provide assistance of about 600 million euros. It's extremely important'', Nikol Pashinyan said.

The next direction refers to the sphere of science and digitalization and the Government of the Republic of Armenia plans to direct part of the financing of this direction to education. There are serious plans for the construction of schools and kindergartens. Nikol Pashinyan also highlighted the issue of building reservoirs.

A separate package of reforms is envisaged for Yerevan, "Green Yerevan" and "Smart Managed City", in particular, traffic management through artificial intelligence.

''I would also like to single out the restoration of the subway, where, by the way, the European Union has played a significant role, we will continue to work in those directions. We must carry out these programs and, yes, we must implement 2.6 billion euro programs during the next 4-5 years and it will be a very serious impetus for Armenia's economic development'', Nikol Pashinyan added.