Under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, a discussion of the 2022 activity report of the department was held at the Ministry of High-Tech Industry.

Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Hambardzum Matevosyan, Head of the Prime Minister's Office Arayik Harutyunyan, Deputy Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan, Head of the State Control Service Romanos Petrosyan, officials of the Prime Minister's Office, the leadership staff of the Ministry of Education and Culture, and other officials participated in the consultation.

At the beginning of the discussion, Nikol Pashinyan stated: "Today we are at the Ministry of High-tech Industry in the scope of summarizing the results of the 2022 activities of the ministries and agencies. Indeed, the calendar year is not over yet, but we can summarize the results today because what needs to happen in the next month should already be planned and underway."

BTA Minister Robert Khachatryan first briefly presented the current and upcoming plans of the ministry, then passed the floor to the deputy ministers coordinating various fields.

Then, reference was made to the ranking of Armenia by the Global Innovation Index, the recorded positive and negative indicators. Next, the steps taken in the direction of the development of startups were presented, in particular, the "From Idea to Business" program, within the framework of which state grants are provided to new companies that have shown the best projects and assistance is provided for their further activities and entering the market. The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the program's implementation and instructed the officials to take consistent steps to increase its effectiveness, emphasizing the need to ensure a high level of budget performance, create broader public awareness of the program, and expand the list of beneficiaries.

It was noted that the program of returning 50 percent of income tax to companies attracting new employees from the labor market is successfully underway, within the framework of which the state has already provided 2.8 billion drams. It has been reported that several IT companies have recruited more than 700 mid and high-skilled employees this year through the University-Private Sector Program. The budget of the project this year was 231 million drams, and in 2023 it will reach 311 million drams.

I got some help with the participation of Armenian companies in international forums. As a result, various Armenian companies signed contracts worth 320 million drams with international partners during the current year.

Next, reference was made to the activity of Haypost, the works carried out to improve the services provided to citizens, and the creation of new departments.

This year, the renovation of the reserve control center began in telecommunications and communications, which is still in progress. Then, reference was made to the implementation of digital television broadcasting, the implementation of the digital interactive television system, and the performance of the base and mobile radio monitoring system in Armenia.

It is planned to provide broadband connection and access to state digital services in 80 percent of our country's settlements by 2026.

The steps toward the space sector's development were reported to the Prime Minister. Emphasizing that the first Armenian strategic satellite was launched into space this year, the officials noted that our country plans to launch two more Armenian satellites into space by 2028. It is designed to create a satellite control center and a receiving station in Armenia in 2023, the main functions of which are satellite control and space photo acquisition. For this purpose, the process of training specialists is underway.

Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the implementation of consistent steps in this direction and stressed that the sector's development would continue to be the focus of the government's attention.
Next, the projects and works implemented to establish an Engineering City, create the National Supercomputer Center, cyber security, digitalization, and create a national data repository were presented.

Summing up, the Prime Minister emphasized the government's goal setting in the direction of consistent and continuous development of the high-tech sector, communication, and telecommunication infrastructures in Armenia and noted the need for effective implementation of the programs. Nikol Pashinyan instructed the officials to present a "road map" for solving the problems and issues raised during today's consultation to move forward in the above directions and ensure development.