TOURINFO- Article about Armenia’s Velvet revolution and aftermaths published on February 6, 2020, by eureporter.
Eureporter (www.eureporter.co), is a Brussels based European multimedia news platform, providing online news and video comment on EU and world affairs in all EU official languages, regularly publishes exclusive interviews with leading European politicians and decision-makers, as well as opinion pieces by influential thinkers, experts and business people). 
Most people know Armenia as a country where Kardashians descend from, some know it as an ancient country with primarily Christian churches, others for its history of the Armenian genocide, yet in May 2018 it became famous for its peaceful, no-bullet velvet revolution when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Armenia, rejecting Soviet-style governance and rooted corruption, writes Hovsep Patvakanyan.
Following the revolution, in February 2019 a new parliament with an average age of 40 was formed which appointed Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the revolution, as prime minister. It’s become a common courtesy to see many countries where revolutions took place to be followed by instability, stagnation and rebranded corruption, but the progress made Armenia, a tiny country with a 3 million population in 2019 within one year of the new parliament’s formation and the new prime minister’s appointment is extraordinary.
Armenia in 2019 records highest GDP growth in Europe hitting 8.2%, export growth 9%, Volume of industrial output +9%, Construction +4.6%, Trade Turnover +8.9%, Services +15%, Salaries +5.8%, External Trade Turnover +10.4%, Inflation +1.4%: https://bit.ly/2GLRm3V
Commission for corruption prevention (head nominated by the opposition) created in 2019 to monitor officials’ income declarations, Anti-Corruption Committee to be formed in 2020 to detect, reveal and prevent corruption-related cases by officials: https://bit.ly/2UiBNbT
$105.000.000 (7 times bigger than the overall sum in the recent 11 years) has been restored to the budget as a result of cracking 346 corruption and tax fraud schemes existing before the revolution. Currently, there are 20361 ongoing criminal cases: https://bit.ly/36Wa3Ne, https://bit.ly/38YUky1, https://bit.ly/2GK37rx
The government developed a bill on non-conviction based asset forfeiture from the officials who based on the official income can’t afford it. Presumption of guilt will be in place, where the officials need to prove the legal origin of the actual income and asset purchased, otherwise, the asset is confiscated: https://bit.ly/2UhUIUl
Tax revenues collected in Armenia’s budget increase by $1.063.000.000 or 43.6% in 2019 compared to 2017, compared to 2018 by 20%. Source: https://bit.ly/37Ct1JC
Small producers with annual sales < $55.000 now pay 0 business taxes and 10$ personal income tax for workers only: https://bit.ly/2GN1ObG
Minimum salary has increased by 20% (https://bit.ly/392aOpq ), healthcare 1-st layer 15.000 workers’ salaries increased by 30% (https://bit.ly/394sxwu ), ambulance workers by 10%, sports school trainers 56%, arts, and music school teachers by 25%, the latter also will receive medical insurance, rescue service workers by 40% (https://bit.ly/2OmkYcu ). Personal income tax now is flat 23%, before was progressive 23-28-36%.
Medical care and services for children 0-18 is free of charge now: https://bit.ly/2SfBdck
Cancer surgeries and acute ischemic stroke medical treatment are now done free of charge: https://bit.ly/2ScsSGn
350 km of new good roads constructed in 2019, funds for 500 km allocated for 2020: https://bit.ly/3b0ubkx
Engineering City to host 100 foreign and local engineering companies will launch in Armenia through confirmed investments of $30.000.000 to host 2000 high tech workers. Construction to be over by 2021: http://engineeringcity.am/
Digitown will be opened in Yerevan to serve as a hub for 100 start-ups. Construction to be over by 2021: https://bit.ly/2RPFRPd, https://bit.ly/2Oma2vh
New TUMO Tech Park of 25.000 sq.m will be built in Armenia through investments of 25.000.000 EUR. Construction starts 2020 spring: https://bit.ly/3b7ojpp
$63.000.000 allocated to fully rebuild 22 schools and 8 colleges in rural Armenia, construction has already started as of 2020 and will be finished by 2022: https://bit.ly/36OM0Q9, https://bit.ly/2vLLDZX
In 2019, low–cost airlines entered the Armenian market: Ryanair and Wizzair announced flights to Gyumri and Yerevan from Austria, Lithuania, Greece, Italy, Germany for as low as 40 EUR, before cheapest ticket to Europe was 200 EUR.
Flights already launched: www.ryanair.com, www.wizzair.com
The number of tourists in Armenia has increased by 15% amounting to around 1,900,000 people: https://bit.ly/2RNDQTL
Smart farms owners in Armenia can now receive 50% reimbursement of the construction expenses. 30 smart farms opened in 2019, the rest 70 planned for 2020 and 2021: https://bit.ly/2RQeapC
Greenhouse farmers in Armenia can now receive a 30% reimbursement of the construction expenses. Through the state support program, 35 ha will be covered: https://bit.ly/2Sbdyd9
Businesses that establish 0.5-100 ha vineyards or intensive orchards with a minimum of 300 trees per ha in Armenia can now receive 50% reimbursement of their costs. More details here: https://bit.ly/38EBk7T
Preparations for the construction of five solar PV sites in 5 selected locations with a capacity of up to 120 MW are launched. Construction of the biggest in the South Caucasus solar PV 55 MW will start in several months https://bit.ly/2ufVEhg
Police now implement a point system where each driver has 9 points annually and upon every violation gets points deducted, when reaching 0 gets deprived of the driving license. Police officers no more take bribes: https://bit.ly/3b15yUB
New garbage disposal system introduced in the capital, the city now is quite clean before it was filled with undisposed garbage: https://bit.ly/2Om5ODW
Fitch, Moodys upgrades Armenia’s rating as a long-term stable outlook: https://bit.ly/2SaDOED, https://bit.ly/36QLpNZ
In 9 months of 2019, the inflow of foreign direct investments have increased by 17.6% and amounted to $454.000.000: https://bit.ly/2S4xCh6
As of 2019 December, Armenia’s Foreign Exchange Reserves now stands at a record high level of $ 2.800.000.000 increasing by 26%: https://bit.ly/2uZKE7H
Dividends and coupon payments from stock exchange-listed companies are now tax-exempt: https://bit.ly/395loMl
Freedom House places Armenia in World’s Top 10 countries with the freest internet (https://bit.ly/36yxe0N)
Some of the major factories opened in 2019:
Diamond cutting factory ADM Diamonds in Abovyan, 700 workplaces (https://bit.ly/391DWwK), Italian ceramic ware factory Ceramisia in the village of Arinj, 500 workplaces (https://bit.ly/2vKHSDZ), Textile factories with Chinese and Italian joint ventures Sartex, Asa Garment, Alex Textile* and Texas production in Yerevan, 1000 workplaces (to reach 3000 within 2 years) https://bit.ly/2OkUGY5, Artik half-cotton threads factory in Maralik, 150 workers (https://bit.ly/2OmT14l ), SMT medical supplies factory in Yerevan, 100 workplaces (https://bit.ly/2GIYJJA ), Sambiel Cheese Production Factory in Noragavit, 120 workplaces (https://bit.ly/390sGRh), Zakaryan jeans factory in Gyumri, 58 workplaces (https://bit.ly/2uXRsCO), there are many more not mentioned.
In 2019, the number of registered workers have increased by 81.534 people and the unemployment rate went down by 2.2 percentiles: https://bit.ly/2Oi63zN
Land reform has been initiated through “2020-2030 Armenia’s Sustainable Agriculture” strategy, wherein 2020 the agricultural land in Armenia, will be digitally mapped. Unused agricultural land will be auctioned by the state for Agri-investors and rent be paid to the owner of the land. https://bit.ly/2OonVcC, https://bit.ly/37RrqzU
