Only RPA members vote as parliament passes govt. program

PanARMENIAN.Net - By a vote of 70 to 1 and 2 abstentions Armenia’s National Assembly has passed the government’s plan of actions for 2014-2017, ARKA reported.

The parliamentary minority represented by ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia and Heritage parties did not participate in the voting. The plan was backed by members of the Republican Party of Armenia that controls 70 seats in 131-member legislature.

Hrant Bagratyan from the opposition Armenian National Congress and Alexander Arzumanyan from Heritage abstained from voting, however, noting that they saw ‘sound elements’ in the program.

Karen Botoyan from Orinats Yerkir said he left his faction to vote for the program.

The plan of actions calls for priority growth rate due to a 5 percent medium-term growth from 2014 to 2017. It also envisages a gradual rise of the minimum wage to AMD 65,000 and reduction of poverty by 10 percentage points.

The 2014 budget approved earlier this year calls for a 5.2% GDP growth. The minimum wage was raised lust summer to AMD 45,000; at present, poverty rate is above 32 percent.

The new program’s focus is on ensuring fair wages, promote agricultural sector, small and medium-sized businesses, information technology, tourism and many other areas. Special attention will be paid to proportional development of Armenian provinces as well as to protection of human rights.

The new program offers a set of new tools designed to improve the situation in such areas as social protection, health, education and science.

Hovik Abrahamyan was appointed prime minister on April 13 replacing former head of the government Tigran Sargsyan. In accordance with the Constitution, the new government was formed within twenty days after the appointment of prime minister.