41st Session of the SME Development Sub-Council Led by RA Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan

On 21 July, the 41st meeting of the SME Development Sub-Council was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, Gevorg Papoyan.

The meeting agenda included one item: discussion of the proposed approaches to the institutional body responsible for implementing Armenia’s SME Competitiveness Strategy for 2026–2030 and its Action Plan.

The discussion focused on selecting the institutional model for implementing the Strategy’s Action Plan.

During the meeting, Sevak Hovhannisyan, representative of the international consulting company Civitta, presented the proposed approaches for implementing the Strategy’s Action Plan (the Strategy has been developed with the expert support of Civitta and the International Trade Centre (ITC)).

Council members Haykaz Fanyan, representing the Armenian Center for Socio-Economic Studies Foundation, and Hakob Avagyan, representing the SME Cooperation Association, also shared their views and recommendations on the proposed approaches.

Summarising the discussion, Minister Gevorg Papoyan instructed that the Action Plan clearly distinguish between measures to be implemented directly by the Ministry of Economy, activities that can be entrusted to existing institutions, and measures whose effective implementation would require the involvement of a newly established unit.

The Minister also noted that a preliminary agreement had been reached between the Ministry and the meeting participants. As a follow-up, a working-level meeting will be organised with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Economy, the Enterprise Amenia, and the Investment Council of Armenia to discuss the proposal to establish a dedicated unit within the Investment Support Centre Foundation.

The revised approaches will be submitted for discussion at the next meeting of the SME Development Council, to be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan.