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Through the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, we implement programmes in two directions: Rehabilitation of the irrigation system and improvement of the road network. The contract for the construction of the Kajaran-Agarak section of the North-South highway has been signed recently. In general, the implemented programmes are 17 billion 356 million drams. They include both a loan and a grant part: The credit part is 13 billion 419 million drams, and the co-financing is 3 billion 937 million drams. The total amount of grants is 148 million drams. The RA Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan said this while presenting the programmes to be implemented with the Eurasian Fund for Development under the 2024 budget. The debate was held at the joint sitting of the RA NA Standing Committees on Regional and Eurasian Integration and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs on November 3.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mnatsakan Safaryan noted that in the current year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued its active participation in the preparation of agendas for multi-level meetings held within the framework of the EEU, development, revision and coordination of drafts of circulating documents. In 2023, one meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, three regular and one extraordinary meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, as well as 10 meetings of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission with the participation of the RA Deputy Prime Minister were held within the EEU framework. A number of important documents were elaborated and adopted.

The Deputy Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration Vagharshak Hakobyan emphasized the participation of the representative of the Foreign Ministry in the Committee and the extensive debate.

The MP Shirak Torosyan raised the issue of mutual recognition of driving licenses within the EEU states, stressing that recently the issue of recognition of the Armenian driving licenses has been postponed in the Russian State Duma. He inquired what steps are being taken to solve the problem as soon as possible. “We haven’t had a debate on this issue yet. Let’s try to raise this issue during the upcoming contacts and respond,” Mnatsakan Safaryan answered. “This problem has existed for approximately 10 years,” Vagharshak Hakobyan said, adding: “It is necessary to understand what the reason is concerning driving licenses and to inform the concerned parties.”

The deputy Mikayel Tumasyan inquired about the activities of the RA Ambassadors in the EEU states, the property conditions of the existing embassies, underlining that, for example, there is no embassy in Uzbekistan. “This issue is on our agenda. I have to mention that the issue of opening embassies with different countries has a factor of following the principle of reciprocity. There must be some willingness on the part of the partner country. Different countries determine the priority of opening an embassy by different factors,” the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs answered.

The NA Vice President Hakob Arshakyan, mentioning that the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented the Crossroads of Peace project in Strasbourg, inquired whether the concept of Crossroads of Peace was presented to the central body within the EEU framework and whether discussions are planned. “The concept of Crossroads of Peace was presented to all the partner countries and organizations through all channels. The assignment is clear, and all the missions have started working in this direction. In relation to the EEU, the work of presenting the countries has started,” the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said.

The Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan noted that positive changes have been made in a number of sectors from the viewpoint of the EEU membership in 2023. The number of tourists coming from the EEU countries is growing steadily. The volume of inflow of money transfers from Russia to Armenia by physical persons has also increased. In January-August 2023, the trade turnover with the EEU states increased by 55.8% compared to the same period last year. The Minister of Economy answered the MPs' questions by presenting clarifications on the issues concerning the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, the operation of the nuclear power plant, the possibilities of building modern modular nuclear power plants, and energy security.