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Office of the Prime Minister, Armenia
gov.am
Dec 5 2010
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan's introductory remarks at cabinet sitting
Dear colleagues,
We have to begin today's session with several assignments. You may
know that after visiting Brussels we stepped up joint efforts with the
European Union, the World Trade Organization and those countries with
which we have free trade arrangements. The point is that we must
comply with our international commitments, and today strict orders
have to be formulated for the State Revenue Committee concerning the
ways of ensuring compliance with the WTO regulations as of January 1,
as well as with those arrangements reached under bilateral free trade
arrangements which prevail over the Armenian laws as stipulated by
Armenia's legislative.
To avoid any broad interpretation of the matter, the State Revenue
Committee should be directed to apply such fixed payment rates for
tobacco products as would not exceed the mark of 15 percent of their
customs value which is a rule of the World Trade Organization, and we
are obliged to observe it from January 1, because there are cases when
the rate of taxation is 17, 18 percent and so on..
Our studies have shown that we are in a position to comply with this
requirement as of January 1..
The second assignment bears on the bilateral free trade agreements
concerning the alcoholic drinks. Here too, we are in duty to provide
compliance with the obligations assumed before our partners regarding
the import of alcoholic drinks: the State Revenue Committee is
accordingly directed to give preference to free trade arrangements.
By honoring our international commitments, we simultaneously meet the
obligations assumed before the European Union which means that those
agreements concluded with the European Union, including the ones on
loan and grant assistance will come into force and, as a State, we
will have to ensure that these regimes are applied in the Republic of
Armenia as of January1.
The second assignment concerns all the ministries and agencies. We
have draft laws submitted to the National Assembly and we are in for
the next four-day debates at which either the State budget law is to
be discussed. Nonetheless, some thirty bills are deemed to be of top
priority by our cabinet ministers and the heads of government
agencies.
You are hereby told to finalize them with your colleagues from the
National Assembly and report back the outcome to the Prime Minister so
that we could ask for an extraordinary sitting of Parliament in order
to have them passed by yearend as they affect the reform process. You
have a week at your disposal to that effect.
And the third key problem to discuss is the introduction of the
institute of interconnectivity and coherence. I have already stated it
while referring to the functions carried out by the State Revenue
Committee, namely that the larger business manages to shatter the
functions on small parts in order to avoid the payment of taxes during
customs clearing. Therefore, the State Revenue Committee will have to
apply the institute of interconnectivity to expose the linkages
between the separate components so declared.
We must acknowledge the bill of top urgency and ask for extraordinary
debates: it had to be submitted along with the State budget bill as we
had a political decision and the directive of the President of the
Republic of Armenia.
From: A. Papazian
gov.am
Dec 5 2010
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan's introductory remarks at cabinet sitting
Dear colleagues,
We have to begin today's session with several assignments. You may
know that after visiting Brussels we stepped up joint efforts with the
European Union, the World Trade Organization and those countries with
which we have free trade arrangements. The point is that we must
comply with our international commitments, and today strict orders
have to be formulated for the State Revenue Committee concerning the
ways of ensuring compliance with the WTO regulations as of January 1,
as well as with those arrangements reached under bilateral free trade
arrangements which prevail over the Armenian laws as stipulated by
Armenia's legislative.
To avoid any broad interpretation of the matter, the State Revenue
Committee should be directed to apply such fixed payment rates for
tobacco products as would not exceed the mark of 15 percent of their
customs value which is a rule of the World Trade Organization, and we
are obliged to observe it from January 1, because there are cases when
the rate of taxation is 17, 18 percent and so on..
Our studies have shown that we are in a position to comply with this
requirement as of January 1..
The second assignment bears on the bilateral free trade agreements
concerning the alcoholic drinks. Here too, we are in duty to provide
compliance with the obligations assumed before our partners regarding
the import of alcoholic drinks: the State Revenue Committee is
accordingly directed to give preference to free trade arrangements.
By honoring our international commitments, we simultaneously meet the
obligations assumed before the European Union which means that those
agreements concluded with the European Union, including the ones on
loan and grant assistance will come into force and, as a State, we
will have to ensure that these regimes are applied in the Republic of
Armenia as of January1.
The second assignment concerns all the ministries and agencies. We
have draft laws submitted to the National Assembly and we are in for
the next four-day debates at which either the State budget law is to
be discussed. Nonetheless, some thirty bills are deemed to be of top
priority by our cabinet ministers and the heads of government
agencies.
You are hereby told to finalize them with your colleagues from the
National Assembly and report back the outcome to the Prime Minister so
that we could ask for an extraordinary sitting of Parliament in order
to have them passed by yearend as they affect the reform process. You
have a week at your disposal to that effect.
And the third key problem to discuss is the introduction of the
institute of interconnectivity and coherence. I have already stated it
while referring to the functions carried out by the State Revenue
Committee, namely that the larger business manages to shatter the
functions on small parts in order to avoid the payment of taxes during
customs clearing. Therefore, the State Revenue Committee will have to
apply the institute of interconnectivity to expose the linkages
between the separate components so declared.
We must acknowledge the bill of top urgency and ask for extraordinary
debates: it had to be submitted along with the State budget bill as we
had a political decision and the directive of the President of the
Republic of Armenia.
From: A. Papazian