Aghvan Vardanyan: David Lokyan and Levon Mkrtchyan will retain their ministerial portfolios

ArmInfo. Acting Minister of  Territorial Administration of Armenia David Lokyan and Acting  Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchyan will retain their  portfolios in the new government of Armenia, Secretary of the ARF  Dashnaktsutyun Faction Aghvan Vardanyan told reporters on September  26. 

Vardanyan noted that Acting Minister of Economy Artsvik Minasyan  will also remain in the government, but he will head the Ministry of  Nature Protection. "Minasyan's intellectual skills will let him  effectively work in that position," he stressed, adding that there  are no discrepancies between the ARFD and Prime Minister Karen  Karapetyan. 

"We had a meeting with Karapetyan and thoroughly discussed his  proposals and programs. His approaches are unacceptable to us and we  welcome his reforms," Vardanyan said. He added that Karapetyan wants  to see a person with business experience as the minister of economy.  "It does not matter to ARFD how many portfolios it will have. The  most important thing is that the problems should be settled and the  fight against corruption and shadow economy should be actively  continued," he stressed.           

To note, after signing a document on political cooperation with the  ruling Republican Party of Armenia, ARFD received portfolios of three  ministries - territorial administration, science and education, and  economy.  

To note, on September 22 the Government underwent structural changes.   The Ministry of Economy was renamed into Ministry of Investments and  Entrepreneurship Promotion. Tourism, telecommunications and aviation  sectors will no longer be parts of the Ministry of Economy. A new  tourism department is being set up to manage the sector of tourism,  while the sectors of telecommunications and aviation will be included  in the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Telecommunications.   According to media reports, Artsvik Minasyan will become the minister  of nature protection.