Minister of Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies reports on 2017 activities and 2018 priority programs

During a working meeting held with the President of the Republic of Armenia, Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies Vahan Martirosyan reported progress in the fulfillment of the assignments issued by the President at the previous meeting, the activities carried out in the areas coordinated by the Ministry and the 2018 priority programs.

According to Minister Martirosyan, about USD 181.7 was spent on various investment projects in 2017, of which USD 70 million in private investments aimed at rebuilding and upgrading electronic communications networks.

With reference to the legislative reform underway in the transport sector, Vahan Martirosyan reported a number of legislative amendments in the sphere of taxi services aimed at ensuring equal competitive conditions for all carriers, including the electronic taxi service providers. According to the Minister, the toughening of licensing requirements will increase the safety and the quality of taxi services.

Minister Martirosyan advised that a new agreement has been signed with the Russian Federation to streamline regular and non-regular passenger and cargo transportations from Armenia to the Russian Federation and vice versa.

Coming to railway communications, the Minister singled out the procurement of a new electric train, which has started operating since March, 2018. Another electric train will be imported by this yearend.

Vahan Martirosyan next introduced the activities in the field of road construction, noting that the warranty period of 1-2 years set for contracts on State budget-supported capital repairs has been extended to 5 years. Construction and rehabilitation of interstate, republican, community-owned motorways and 5 bridges have been implemented in the period under review.

In compliance with the President’s instruction to provide interstate and internal motorways with safety elements, the Minister reported that over a thousand road signs and 8500 m metal bars had been placed on the Yerevan-Sevan highway.

Traffic barriers have been erected at the most dangerous sections of highways in Saravan, Sisian and Fioletovo. This process, according to Mr. Martirosyan, will be continuous. In addition, the European Union has approved a USD 5 million grant to improve road safety in 2017, which will help cope with the problems faced in the field.

According to the Minister, all interstate highways have been provided with passports and a database of motor-roads has been established and incorporated with the world’s largest search engine Google’s map base. Vahan Martirosyan next reported progress in the capital repairs under the North-South Road Corridor investment program and the M6 Vanadzor-Alaverdi-Georgia interstate highway project.

In accordance with a presidential instruction, the Minister reported on the programs implemented in the IT sector, noting that the volume of information technologies rose by 29.6% to nearly 76 billion drams in 2017.

Presenting the steps undertaken to finance start-up IT companies, Minister Martirosyan noted that in 2017, 570 companies were created, of which 281 were granted tax privileges.

The bids submitted by AR Magic and Webex Technologies, selected from 30 teams as a result of the tender announced by the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies and the Global Credit Universal Credit Organization within the framework of the grant program to support start-up companies were recognized to be the best ones. Each of these two companies will get a USD 10 million financial offer. A private venture fund will be set up in case the project proves successful.

Vahan Martirosyan reported on the activities implemented with a view to attracting foreign investments in the ICT sector and present Armenian products on international markets, noting that 7 offices had already been opened abroad.

Touching upon the legislative reforms in the cyber security sphere, the Minister noted that the National Security Council had approved the concept of cyber security, and the Ministry was working with the interagency task force to develop a cyber security strategy, which envisages the establishment of a cyber security center in Armenia.

The Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies presented the 2018-2019 State budget-funded road-building programs, the unified routing scheme, measures to improve the quality of passenger traffic, including the safety of taxi services, technical inspection and gas-cylinder systems installation and certification processes, the strategy and implementation of the ICT sector development program for 2018-2030, the preparations for the World IT Forum to be held next year in Yerevan, as well as the creation and launch of the Glonass data collection system.

President Sargsyan gave a number of instructions, urging the Minister to keep in the spotlight the construction and maintenance of interstate roads and the quality of works.