YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The State Tax Service and the State Customs Committee adjunct to the Armenian government are currently implementing pilot programs on admission and formulation of documents in the electronic form. The RA Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development Tigran Davtian told NT correspondent about it. According to him, a transfer to electronic registration of business is envisaged as well. T. Davtian explained that international experience shows that one of the best ways of improving the business environment is establishing an electronic document circulation and communication between the state and businessmen, which also enables to reduce corruption risks. He noted that the Armenian government is taking these steps aimed at improving the business environment within the framework of some annual programs with the assistance of the World Bank. "The state is trying to reduce administrative obstacles to business, as Armenia, which lacks raw material reserves and has no opportunnity for sea and overland transit transportation, should offer more competitive conditions of running a business," T. Davtian said. In terms of administrative obsatcles to business, Armenia is in the middle position among other countries. The deputy minister said that the conditions of investment making in Armenia are far from perfect, but they are being improved with every passing year. It is also obvious from the fact this year Armenia was assigned for the first time quite a high rating by influential rating organizations Fitch and Moody's. In his words, the "BB-" ("BB minus") rating initially assigned to Armenia by Fitch was replaced with a higher "BB" rating. The above mentioned ratings take into account the assessment of the business environment too. In the words of T. Davtian, in terms of its business environment, Armenia is in one of first places among Eastern European and CIS countries.

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