VIDEO: If I Had the Right, I Would Send the Property Tax Law Back to the National Assembly – Armen Sarkissian

The President of the Republic, Armen Sarkissian, has met with leaders of several companies in the information technology sector. This information is reported on the official website of the President of Armenia.

The meeting included co-founder of IU Networks, Alexander Yesayan, technical director of VM Ware Eastern Europe, Khachatur Nazaryan, general director of Mentor Siemens Business Armenia, Irina Dumanian, director of Instigate, Vahagn Poghosyan, general director of Macadamia, Sofi Mehrabyan, co-founder and managing partner of Granatus Ventures, Manuk Hergnyan, and co-founder of SFL, Vasil Mamikonyan.

The discussions focused on the impact and consequences of the pandemic on the IT sector, current issues, potential future difficulties, and the opportunities the presidential institute has to support the resolution of these issues.

Pointing out that the coronavirus is a consequence of a changing world, President Sarkissian stated the need to prepare for the challenges and risks of the 21st century. “The world has changed and will continue to change at a very fast pace. If we can adapt to this or accompany changes harmoniously, we will win; if not, we will become consumers,” the President remarked. “You represent a sector that seems to have not suffered too much today. However, difficulties will arise in the future because a reconstruction of the global economy is underway. Therefore, we must start thinking about tomorrow's problems starting today.”

The President emphasized the importance of developing high technologies and artificial intelligence from the perspective of the country’s competitiveness. In this context, he mentioned the presidential ATOM initiative, under which preliminary agreements are already in place for cooperation with several major technological companies around the world. “The idea is to have 10-15 large companies engaged in advanced work here — in the fields of healthcare, culture, and so on. For example, we want to implement three projects in the cultural sector with IBM,” the President said. “We want their latest artificial intelligence platform to be developed here. If 500 people work in Armenia with the best companies, which can later expand, it will be a small investment and will become the locomotive that I will support in this work.”

He noted that the coronavirus pandemic also demonstrated that e-governance tools, such as e-education and e-health, are now a necessity. Similar conclusions were also drawn in the investment report regarding Armenia by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), prepared last year on the proposal of President Sarkissian. “The presidential institute and UNCTAD made a joint addition to that report related to the pandemic. Important and necessary points were highlighted. One of the recommendations is related to e-governance; as I mentioned, e-health, e-education, e-business. Another important area is food security. If many people think that there is a health problem today, and tomorrow there will be an economic one, then later there will be a food security problem worldwide,” the President noted. “Another significant recommendation was that Armenia needs a separate institute to deal with attracting investments, representing the country, and branding the country. The proposal is to create a Rapid Response Working Group. It should be fast because the world is being reshaped again today. Therefore, if we need to do something, we should do it today. The world will change, and every country must present itself anew, saying who it is and what it wants to develop.”

Addressing the role of education and the quality of education, the President stated that technological development is primarily based on education. “Delegations from international companies that visited Armenia under the ATOM initiative wanted to visit universities; they wanted to see continuity. You can have the largest and best company in the world, but if there are no young scientists or engineers for tomorrow, then you will not get anywhere.”

President Sarkissian considered the support of locomotive sectors to be important. “If we have decided that education, agriculture, and technology are the sectors we should support, then we must support them, even by instituting tax incentives.” He cited Belarus as an example, where the “High Tech Park” has been granted tax incentives by the state, and currently, 50,000 people work there, generating around $2 billion in revenue. Investors in that park are Americans, Canadians, and Chinese. Thus, he emphasized the importance of using tax tools to promote specific sectors. “We have potential that must be utilized, and it must be used correctly. Science, technology, and education must be together. If business and universities do not work together, we will not get anywhere,” the President said. “The only path is that the university, academy, education, and industry must work together. If we fail to do so, we will fall behind.”

In this context, the President also referred to the recent law on amendments and additions to the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia regarding property tax. He suggested that from now on, proposals related to legislative changes concerning their field should be presented in advance, which would allow for participating in creating an environment necessary for the development of the sector. “Let’s take the law concerning property tax. The law is on my desk, and it does not contradict the Constitution. I cannot send it to the Constitutional Court. However, I find it outdated. It has positive elements because this property tax needs to be regulated. You cannot live with a property tax that is 20 years old, and so on. All the provisions noted in the law are correct, but there are elements that have not been taken into account. For example, we must consider that in the center of Yerevan, in the area adjacent to the Nairi Cinema, there are people living in houses inherited from their grandparents who were academics. Now that person is an associate professor and cannot pay the increased tax. What do I do? If I don’t sign it, it will still be signed by the President of the National Assembly and will come into force. I cannot appeal to the Constitutional Court. What remains for me to do is to sign it. I will sign it and also issue a statement explaining in detail what the problems are and what can be done.

If I had the right to veto, I would do it. If I could send the law back to the National Assembly and ask for changes to be made, I would do it. I don’t have that right. You also submit proposals, and if I agree with your proposals, I will defend them within my power. I urge you to defend yourselves and your businesses. Your sector is the future of our country.”

Participants in the meeting specifically addressed the issues of quality education that meets modern requirements, the need for vocational technological institutions, and ensuring the connection between education and business, as well as the provision of certain incentives for the sector.