ArmInfo. The crisis time for Armenia suggests that we need to pay very much attention to land reform and introduce about 200 thousand hectares of arable land, which is currently not being cultivated.
A similar opinion, answering the question of ArmInfo correspondent during the video bridge on the topic "How are things with food security of the EAEU countries", was expressed by the Minister of Industry and Agro-Industrial Complex of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Artak Kamalyan, former Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia, responsible for agricultural sector. "Today it is fundamentally important," he emphasized.
In this regard, he noted that at the moment the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia is working out certain packages on land reform in order to initiate institutional changes in the current crisis conditions, which will make it possible to introduce uncultivated land into effective circulation. In addition, the minister drew attention to the fact that Armenia is practically the only country within the EAEU where food products are subject to 20% VAT, while other countries have preferential VAT rates. "Therefore, in this regard, it makes sense to think about institutional and legislative changes regarding the taxation of food products," Kamalyan noted.
It should be noted that earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a meeting in the Government of the Republic of Armenia stated the necessity and expediency of carrying out institutional reforms in a crisis. In this regard, he said that the options are currently being discussed by the task force on economic issues.
To recall, at the end of 2019, in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent, the then Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Artak Kamalyan said that within the framework of the FAO program (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in 2020, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia will launch a pilot project <Bank land>, the concept of which involves through the state to connect the farmer and the investor who is interested in leasing land. <For example, there is a producer of agricultural products in the region who partially or completely does not use their land, and is ready to lease it out for a long-term lease or sell it, but doesn't have the opportunity, including because there is a lot of routine work involved in document management. This land bank, with the help of the state, will unite those producers who want to lease their land and interested investors who need land to start production>, the deputy minister explained. In addition, the deputy minister said that a concept for the efficient use of land and some bills that will be submitted to the RA government early next year have already been developed.
