Thursday, April 30 2020 15:50

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.