ArmInfo. The Armenian government needs to work for the long term, not limited to programs aimed at resolving situational, momentary problems. A similar opinion was expressed by ArmInfo member of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission on Economic Affairs from the My Step faction Gevorg Papoyan.
"Even before the coronavirus pandemic, progressive development was demonstrated only by countries that set long-term goals and implement appropriate strategies in this direction. Countries that consider any challenge, any problem, first of all, as an opportunity. Today, everyone without exception faced this challenge. And I I don't think it's possible to get out of this situation as a winner without implementing long-term development strategies, "he said.
In this light, Papoyan singled out government programs aimed at developing the agricultural sector through its soft loans. According to him, employed in the field of citizens today take such loans in fairly large volumes. Given the favorable weather conditions that did not leave for seasonal work as a result of the coronavirus of the villagers, respectively, a sharp increase in sown areas, the current year, according to his forecasts, will be the year of overproduction of agricultural products.
In this light, the parliamentarian already sees the need to develop a strategy for implementing the expected high yields. Papoyan said that he had already raised this issue in the government and made his own related proposals. In particular, he sees the need to provide state support to enterprises that process agricultural products. First of all, in order to stimulate them to refuse from imports and purchase local products. "For example, wine producers need to lend on good terms in order to purchase barrels or glass containers. Canned producers - metal containers or related equipment. In other words, anything that can dramatically increase the processing of agricultural products. The government has already responded positively to our initiatives. today, zero-interest loans are already provided not only to producers, but also to agricultural producers in the direction of acquiring containers and building additional warehouses s storage ", - he said. According to Papoyan's forecasts, in turn, the demand for food products in the main markets for Armenian products will be quite high, regardless of how the situation with the coronavirus develops. At the same time, in the current situation, manufacturers from Armenia are quite capable of starting to develop new markets. According to his estimates, the problem of production and processing of agricultural products is already being resolved, respectively, it is necessary to solve the problem of its marketing. Noting that agriculture ranks second in Armenia after the mining industry, the parliamentarian emphasized the need to use all potential in this direction, taking into account existing and emerging opportunities. "I believe that agriculture and processing industry today can become one of the most important areas for the development of our economy. Coronavirus is gradually changing priorities in the world. People put more emphasis on their own health, respectively, on healthy and high-quality food. Armenia can and should respond to this the global trend is an increase in the production of environmentally friendly and healthy food, "the parliamentarian concluded.
