On 21 July, the advisory opinions developed by the EU-Armenia Civil Society Platform were discussed in Yerevan with the participation of representatives of RA State Bodies and other interested parties.
RA Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin and Co-Chair of the EU-Armenia Civil Society Platform Lusine Hakobyan delivered a welcome speeches at the discussion.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan thanked the partners of the Civil Society Platform for the work done and highlighted the institutional cooperation formed between the Government and Civil Society within the framework of the implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union (CEPA).
EU Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin, among other issues, highlighted the role of civil society in monitoring the implementation of the CEPA and emphasized the need to organize these efforts as participatory as possible, taking into account the work done by the sivil society in the past.
Co-Chair of the EU-Armenia Civil Society Platform Lusine Hakobyan emphasized the intention of the Platform to unite the efforts of the civil society in the field of monitoring the fulfillment of the obligations undertaken in the framework of the CEPA, including the efforts of the “Partnership for an Open Society” and the “Anti-Corruption Coalition”.
In three separate sessions, the report of Anti-Corruption Expert Ms Syuzanna Soghomonyan “Study of the International and Armenian Legislation
and Practice on Anti-Corruption Education and Conflict of Interest in the Light of the Commitments under the RA-EU CEPA”, the report of the Chairman, Republican Union of Employers of Armenia “Stable Entrepreneurship and Stable Employment in the RA” and the report “Freedom of Association and Social Partnership in the Republic of Armenia” of the representatives of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia Anna Barikyan, Arsen Igityan and Tiruhi Nazaretyan were discussed.
According to Syuzanna Soghomonyan, while developing the advisory opinion, the anti-corruption measures implemented in the RA in recent years and their results, the recommendations provided by the international partners were studied, paying great attention to the Anti-Corruption Strategy of the Republic of Armenia and its Implementation Action Plan for 2018-2022, as the latter was an independent action planned by the road maps ensuring the implementation of the CEPA. At the same time, it should be noted that there is still much to be done in terms of anti-corruption education, targeting the entire public, starting from kindergarten to senior generation. It is also worth emphasizing that the actions taken in the field of anti-corruption education were presented at two levels: qualitative and quantitative. Moreover, in case where some actions were performed completely in terms of quantity, however, the impact and results of the actions were not evaluated qualitatively by the RA Government. In the case of the institute on conflict of interest, due to the legislative changes made in December 2022, the institute has improved enough, but there is still work to be done here, both at the legislative level as well as in the context of changing the anti-corruption perception.
The participants got acquainted with the reports in more detail and received answers to their questions during the question and answer session.
Information:
According to Article 366 of the Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union on 24 November, 2017 in Brussels, and which officially entered into force on 1 March, 2021, a bilateral Civil Society Platform was created, consisting of representatives of the Civil Society of the European Union and representatives of the Civil Society of Armenia.
Representatives of Armenian NGOs, Republican Union of Employers of Armenia and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia are part of the Platform from Armenia.