Chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Avigina today held the 18th meeting of the Council for the Development of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship. The meeting was attended by temporary attorney in the affiliates of the United Kingdom in Armenia, Helen Feassy and the head of the Erevan Office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Dmitry Gvindadze, said the press service of the Deputy Prime Minister.
As Tigran Avinyan noted at the meeting, in Armenia, it was necessary to rethink the economic policy in accordance with the existing problems.
According to him, given the coronavirus pandemic at the beginning of the year and unleashed by the autumn Azerbaijan war against Artsakh, 2020 became the year of crises for Armenia. "All this had a devastating impact on the economy and the socio-economic situation in the country. We have completed the economic year with an economic downturn by about 7.5%, which cannot but have social consequences, "Avimnyan said. Speaking about the need to rethinking economic policies, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the growth of the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises should be laid out the processes of industrialization, technological modernization, achieving competitive positions in international markets.
Avica reminded that the "Road Card" plan approved by the Prime Minister of Economic Response and Plan of Action was aimed at stimulating economic activity, creating favorable conditions for business development. Although the program should be implemented in the short term, all actions and activities included in it should also contribute to the restoration and sustainable development of the economy in the medium term, he noted.
Temporary attorney in the affiliates of the United Kingdom in Armenia Helen Feassy, welcoming the participants of the meeting, expressed the readiness of Great Britain to continue maintaining measures to contribute to the economic development of the country.
The head of the Yerevan office of EBRD Dmitry Gvindadze, touched by the EBRD mission, presented the dynamics of bank operations in Armenia. According to him, last year the volume of EBRD operations in Armenia amounted to a record 160 million euros, of which about 93% accounted for the private sector. He also noted that the EBRD is very interested in maintaining the economic dialogue between the private and public sectors, which, in turn, should contribute to the development of private entrepreneurship.
During the meeting, problems that exist in the field of state procurement, opportunities and prospects for their decisions, as well as issues related to large trading networks, including the supply and sale of local products were discussed.