During the special sitting of the National Assembly, MP Sisak Gabrielyan asked a question to the RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan in connection with the Draft Law on Making Changes and Additions to the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On State Duty”.

The deputy asked how much will be the revenue with the increase of this duty.

“My second question is a little more political, but in Syunik region the “Civil Contract” talked a lot about nationalization. Now can we say that the company itself is not nationalized, but, taking into account the volume of this duty, we, in fact, are nationalizing the RA entrails more,” Sisak Gabrielyan said.

In response to the question, Vahan Kerobyan said:

“First, I want to say that this law is not adopted for or related to any economic entity; it is for the general sphere. And with this event in the next 6 months we will enter about 35 billion drams in the state budget, which is very necessary for our budget. And the problems we face are such, and the promises included in our pre-election program and the Government’s program to our citizens are such that there is a vital need to change the attitude towards the subsoil and to distribute the revenues from the subsoil equally between businesses and the RA citizens.

The deputy also asked whether options are being discussed, taking into account the harmful effect of the factory, especially on the nearby settlements.

“Last year, a draft to give a part of royalties to the communities was discussed, which was not accepted. According to that draft, about 2% of the total amount of royalties should go to the beneficiary communities. But that law was not adopted. I think we will definitely address this issue in our royalty recovery system, because, of course, those communities live in a somewhat worse environmental conditions; maybe there is a need to introduce higher quality health services in those communities, and to improve the quality of life of the people.”

Details in the video