YEREVAN, June 19. /ARKA/. Armenia’s government is trying to remove the obstacles hobbling development of small and mid-scale businesses, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan said Friday at a regular session of the Small and Medium-Size Enterprise Development Council of Armenia.

“Our goal is to remove all the obstacles existing in SMEs’ activities and to give them room for strengthening their businesses as well as to take steps for developing the economy,” he is quoted in the government’s press release. “We should unite and move the country forward.”

The council discussed ways to provide family business preferences to the entrepreneurs doing hotel business and also the application of differentiated approach in setting local duties.

The participants of the session exchanged their opinions and presented their ideas and remarks.

Summarizing the results of the discussion, Abrahamyan instructed the concerned agencies to work out and submit appropriate legislative packages to the government.

Some 70,000 small and medium enterprises operate in Armenia now. Of them, 58,000 are micro and small companies and 10,000 are mid-scale businesses.

The SMEs’ share in Armenia’s GDP is 43%, but the sector ensures only 5-6 percent of the country’s tax revenue – See more at: http://arka.am/en/news/business/armenian_authorities_tying_to_remove_obstacles_hobbling_smes_activities/#sthash.5qerR9Tx.dpuf