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On March 27, the NA Standing Committee on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment Protection debated and took note of the relevant parts of the report on the implementation process and the results of the RA Government Programme (2021-2026) for 2023.

The RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan presented to the Committee the work carried out in 2023 in the areas of territorial administration and local self-government, road construction and water. He touched upon the legislative reforms implemented in the above-mentioned areas, as a result of which the financial allocations have significantly increased in the current year.

Referring to the subsidy programmes, the Minister noted that 446 programmes were implemented in the reporting year, for which 58.2 billion AMD was paid, the Government's share was 30.3 billion AMD. The programmes contained many subprogrammes. Work has been carried out in the field of garbage collection. About 100 of the 220 listed landfills have been closed or are in the process of being closed. Gnel Sanosyan informed that in terms of road construction, the plan of 500 km has been over-executed for the second year.

The Minister Hakob Simidyan presented the report on the performance of the work of the Ministry of Environment in 2023.

He referred to the legislative amendments implemented in the reporting year, underlining that with the adoption of the new law on Eco-Patrol Service, the protection of special areas will be carried out 24/7.

The rapporteur also spoke about the important amendments implemented in the law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise.

With the amendment to the Water Code, it is planned to have at least 40% water saving in the water saving system. The rapporteur reminded that from January 1, 2024, all the water users must have online water meters. In their absence, administrative fines are imposed.

The Executive also clarified the process of issuing water use permit. Criminal liability has been established for illegal use of groundwater.

It was mentioned that the long-term strategy for the development of low greenhouse gas emissions was adopted in terms of climate change risk management.

Hakob Simidyan also introduced the work being carried out in the direction of restoration of trout reserves in Lake Sevan. According to him, the administrative liability for illegal whitefish hunting has been tightened. It was noted that for the first time the Government had allocated around 60 million AMD to monitor the water quality of Sevan.

Hakob Simidyan, answering the deputies’ questions, addressed the recovery of crayfish in Lake Sevan, the development of the capacities of relevant officials in the framework of the fight against illegal deforestation, the effective management of water resources, etc.

The part of the report related to the field of agriculture was presented by the Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan.

According to the rapporteur, in 2023 the gross output of agriculture was about 948 billion AMD.

According to the 2023 state budget, 38.1 billion AMD was allocated for agriculture at the beginning of the year, the actual performance was 41.6 billion AMD, out of which 1.6 billion AMD was for the measures financed by external sources.

About 13 state support programmes and a number of measures were implemented by the RA Ministry of Economy.

Presenting the work carried out in the field of agriculture in the reporting year, Gevorg Papoyan noted that within the framework of the Intensive Gardening programme, an application for the establishment of around 2350 hectares of gardens was approved. About 10.192 insurance contracts were signed to insure 11.662 hectares of land within the framework of the insurance system programme in the field of agriculture. Compared to 2022, the area of insured territories has almost doubled. 3864 insurance compensations were paid, with a total volume of around 2.7 billion AMD.

In the reporting year, 221 applications with a total volume of around 15.5 billion AMD were approved under the agricultural raw material procurement program, as a result of which 9.068 crop purchase contracts were signed.

The strategies of food safety and food security, the law on Genetically Modified Organisms were adopted, the regulations of the laws on Protection of Plant Varieties and on Organic Agriculture were improved.

The rapporteurs answered the deputies’ questions, referring to the problems regarding the sectors.