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March 28
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In 1997, 17-18% of Armenia’s GDP was made up of small and medium-sized businesses, whereas in 2008 that percentage was 44-46%. Second President Robert Kocharyan, who heads the “Armenia” bloc ahead of the snap parliamentary elections on June 20, said this during a meeting Tuesday with representatives of business and construction.

"The first law to support small and medium-sized businesses [in Armenia], if I'm not mistaken, was adopted in 2002. I do not know how much the law has improved since then, but in my time we have referred to those laws twice, and since 2002 a structure was created to support small and medium-sized businesses, that structure had representation in all provinces, state funding, and it also provided feedback on what is happening in the small and medium-sized business sector, and what practical steps the state should take to promote that sector. There have been many steps. Now you will say there have been steps, what was the result? In 1997, small and medium-sized businesses accounted for 17-18% of GDP, whereas in 2008 that percentage was 44-46%; and this is the result, in which case GDP grew in double digits. Small and medium-sized businesses [in Armenia] were growing faster than the overall GDP; and that was the result of politics, "he said.

As per Kocharyan, a large number of owners were formed in Armenia during those years. "Since 1999, has the police or security entered any business, checked it, done a mask show? I don't know what they did; there can be no such thing. Security had the right to deal only with smuggling issues. You only have to deal with the tax authorities; the business world should not have communication with other bodies," he added.

According to him, state investments in business development are for infrastructure development. "This is the sacred duty of state bodies," he added.

As per Kocharyan, the next thing is the regulation of trade with other countries. "It was during those years that a huge number of agreements were signed with other states. And in those years we [Armenia] became a member of the World Trade Organization, which gave us the opportunity to trade—with comprehensible rules—with other countries," he said.

The second President noted that the next is the judiciary, that he cannot say that much has been done, but the reform began in this system in Armenia and continued in the following years. "But I cannot say that there have been significant changes here; I felt it on myself, too," he added.

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