YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA State Social Insurance Fund attaches great importance to studying of international experience for implementation of reforms in the pension and social insurance sector. The fund's director Vazgen Khachikian stated it at the February 24 presentation of the brochure "The Brief Description of Pension Reforms in Latvia and Estonia". He said that the brochure, which was published by the Armenian European Policy and Legal Advice Centre (AEPLAC), presents the paths that the pension systems of the above mentioned countries have passed over the past 15 years. He reminded that serious reforms are now underway in Armenia's social insurance sysytem, including the introduction of the individual registration system and the measures aimed at introdution and development of various cummulative mechanisms. It was noted that Latvia and Estonia started pension reforms in 1996. Latvia invested the accumulated pension resources in the national economy, while Estonia invested over 90% of such resources in the neighboring countries with most developed economies. In the opinion of V. Khachikian, the Latvian variant is more suitable for Armenia: it would foster the country's economic development. At present there are about 540 thousand pensioners in Armenia, while social payments are made by over 104 thousand employers and about 460 thousand employees.

---