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Armenian president appoints ministers to new government

Karen Karapetyan was appointed new Armenian prime minister on September 13

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, pool

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan

© AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, pool

YEREVAN, September 20. /TASS/. Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has made first appointments to the new government, the presidential press service reported on Tuesday.

Deputy prime minister and minister for international economic integration and reforms, Vache Gabrielyan, and minister and the government chief of staff, David Arutyunyan, have retained their posts.

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Among the newly appointed ministers are Vartan Aramyan, who was appointed finance minister, and Ashit Manukyan, who was appointed minister of energy and natural resources. Prior to the current appointment the former was deputy finance minister and first deputy chief of presidential administration in the recent years. The latter was director of the Razdanskaya heat plant.

Ignatiy Arakelyan, the executive director of the Yerevan cognac plant, was appointed agriculture minister, and Vagan Martirosyan of Rostelecom Co. was appointed minister of transport and communications.

Armenia’s former Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan, who had been in office since April 2014, announced his resignation on September 8. The president accepted his resignation and resignation of his government on the same day and asked government members to perform their duties until new cabinet members are appointed. Under Armenia’s law on the government of November 9, 1998, the government resigns along with the prime minister.

On September 13, Karen Karapetyan was appointed new prime minister. In 2010-2011, he was mayor of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan and worked with Russia’s gas giant Gazprom until recently. Under the Armenian constitution, a new government is to be formed within 20 days after the appointment of a new prime minister. After that, the new cabinet submits to the parliament its program.

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