Karen Karapetian said on Friday that he will remain in charge of the Armenian government’s economic policies in his new capacity as first deputy prime minister.
The former prime minister met a group of other senior government officials three days after being replaced by former President Serzh Sarkisian. The latter named Karapetian his first deputy on Wednesday.
“We have divided our functions in this way: I will be responsible for the economic bloc and regional governance,” Karapetian told the officials, among them the ministers of economy, agriculture, energy and transport.
“Accordingly, we are making some changes in the [government] staff and ascertaining the functions and tasks of departments, and so we have to work in a very targeted manner,” he said, adding that the relevant government agencies must now “review and restart the plans for this year.”
Karapetian was tasked with improving the socioeconomic situation in Armenia when Sarkisian appointed him prime minister in September 2016. He subsequently unveiled an ambitious economic reform agenda.
Citing robust economic growth recorded by the government last year, Karapetian said his cabinet has succeeded in achieving “all macro-objectives” set by Sarkisian when he met with the outgoing president on April 7. Sarkisian said at that meeting that he and Karapetian will be Armenia’s two top government leaders in the coming years.
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