YEREVAN, MARCH 5, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan visited Aragatsotn Province on March 3 to review the results of 2017 development programs and upcoming tasks for 2018.

During the meeting with local officials, Aragatsotn governor Ashot Simonyan mentioned that the province’s share for the national GDP comprises 3%, and the gross industrial output volume in 2016 amounted 39,4 billion drams, and in 2017 – 35,9 billion drams, from which nearly 280,000 drams is the per capita share. According to the governor the gross agricultural output in 2017 amounted 89,1 billion drams against 2016’s 87 billion, which exceeds the average indicator of the country more than twice.

Trade turnover in 2017 amounted 16,9 billion drams, which is 1,9 billion drams more than in 2016, from which 131,6 thousand drams is per capita. A 1,7 billion dram growth has been recorded in 2017.

In 2017, the exports volume was 4,6 billion drams. 26,2 billion drams worth investment programs have been implemented in the province, 6 billion drams more than in 2016.

The governor said that more than 35,2 billion drams of investments is planned for 2018. An additional 600 jobs are expected to be created.

The PM particularly welcomed the process of agricultural programs in the province and highlighted steps for increasing exports volumes.

“We need real numbers, we don’t need to simply draw figures and exaggerate. We need to define the plan maximally extensive, and in this case a 95-97% execution will be far more welcomed than 120%, when we understand that we have taken a great burden while planning, because the pace of growth of the coming years must be more than the average of the region, the EEU, CIS and the world, and we summed up 2017 with those numbers”, the PM said.

The meeting focused on a wide range of issues such as healthcare, waste management, employment rate, industry etc.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan