YEREVAN, FEBRUARY13, ARMENPRESS.  Armenian Premier Karen Karapetyan received on February 13 the representatives of the European Business Association and companies doing business in Armenia.  Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski was present at the meeting.  

The press service of the Government of Armenia informed “Armenpress” that the Premier highlighted the cooperation between the Cabinet and the business circle. “We sent you numerous signals and hope you caught them”, Premier Karapetyan said, adding that the Cabinet of Armenia attaches great importance to the involvement of the European business in Armenia both as a management culture and investments, “Therefore, we are ready to listen to any of your proposals”, he said. Karen Karapetyan also highlighted the cooperation between the business circle and the Center for Strategic Initiatives.

Referring to the investment projects of the Government of Armenia, the Premier stressed that the Cabinet has collected and analyzed the investment projects submitted by the provinces, the private sector and ministries. A total of 341 projects with a financial plan of 3.2 billion USD have been collected. The projects will be funded from different sources – Armenia’s state budget and the private sector. “For 2017 we find it realistic to implement projects if 840 million USD. AT the moment the Cabinet discussed another 79 investment projects with a financial plan of 5.3 billion USD. We assess those projects as reasonable, we have preliminary agreements, and are open for investors and partners”, Laren Karapetyan stressed.

Piotr Switalski thanked the Premier for receiving European businessmen, and mentioned that this is a good opportunity for them to present their problems and proposals. The Ambassador highlighted the Cabinet’s commitment to improve the business environment and readiness to assist the business sin various issues.

PM Karapetyan noted that the Cabinet will specially focus on the improvement of tax and customs administration, considering the current issues and the discontent from the business environment. “In the near future the SRC will publish the list of law-abiding taxpayers by which we will tell the public that they are the champions. The banks will allocate them loans with lower interest rates for their being predictable, reliable and understandable. We will do everything to grant privileges to those working within the frames of the law”, the Head of the Executive said.