YEREVAN. - Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan on Thursday met with the foreign ambassadors accredited in Armenia, as well as heads and representatives of international institutions and organizations.

At the meeting reference was made to the activity of the Armenian Government, agenda of reforms, economic development programs, as well as measures and steps aimed at countering corruption.

The Prime Minister underscored the importance of holding regular meetings with the diplomatic corps in this format in terms of raising the efficiency of cooperation. He also noted that the Government is open to recommendations, criticism and proposals. “I attach great importance to your [mission of] taking our ideas on the development of Armenia to the countries and institutions you represent. The expectations from the cooperation are quite great, starting from investors and professional culture to tourism, since we won’t be able to develop our country without giving relevant signals to the world and showing that we are open and expect them. From this perspective, we expect your support,” Karapetyan said.

Touching on the upcoming parliamentary elections, the PM stressed: “We expect principally new quality from these elections. We are ready to do our best for these elections to be transparent.”

He also added that the newly formed Government has summed up 100 days of its activity. During this period the Government exerted maximum efforts to diagnose the issues they face, the PM noted.

Karapetyan also informed that the work carried out per sectors will in the near future be presented by a relevant report.  “I think the members of the Government team already feel the ‘pulse’ of their areas and what has to be done. The issues are various but the main issue of the economic bloc is to create maximally equal, open and just conditions for the business. From this perspective, we have announced that we should carry out many changes and first of all change ourselves,” he noted.

In Karapetyan’s words, in order to improve the investment climate, it is planned to facilitate the tax and customs administration process and completely shift to the electronic system, which will reduce the corruption risks.

Referring to the struggle against corruption, the PM stressed that it is constantly in the center of the Government’s attention and consistent steps will be taken to reduce the level of corruption indexes through changing the climate. The report to be published will include the steps taken by the Government also in that direction.

“We will present which part of them is inclined to the business environment and changing in order to create maximum obstacles for them. We won’t be able to ensure progress without struggling against the shadow, moving the shadow into a white field and creating just and transparent climate for business,” he stressed.

During the Q&A session, the PM responded to all the questions of interest to those present.