23.10.2018

 

On 23 October, 2018 the working group of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative took place in the Government of Armenia, the agenda included the discussion of the OGP-Armenia Draft Action Plan. Susanne Soghomonyan, member of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association attended the meeting as well.

The First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan chaired the meeting.

The following commitments were discussed at the meeting: expanding the list of officials’ declarations, defining the rules for providing grants from the state budget, developing a beneficial owners register, ensuring transparency of credit and grant funds, access to and updating community websites, developing an interactive map of water and land resources, access to education and healthcare, introduction of the petition system.

It is worth mentioning that one of the authors of the proposal to expand the list of official’s declarations, to develop a beneficial owners’ register, and to access and update of community websites is the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.

For more information on the OGP-Armenia Draft Action Plan for the Fourth Project please visit the following here.

It is noteworthy that a number of working meetings and public discussions took place in September and October with the participation of Government, Civil Society and international experts aimed at  developping the mentioned Action Plan  organized by the RA Government, “Armavir Development Center” and “Freedom of Information Center”, where Mariam Zadoyan, Project Manager of ALA component of the” Armenia: Promoting Anti-Corruption Conduct and Reforms” Project, Syuzanna Soghomonyan, ALA board member and Carl Ulbricht, ALA international expert participated.
Initially, CSO’s Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia and ALA have proposed 7 recommendations which included the following:

• the improvement of the asset and income declaration system submitted by public officials,
• introduction of a program on stolen asset recovery,
• introduction of the anti-corruption compliance mechanisms,
• establishment of a beneficial owners’ register,
• improvement of the transparency and participatory democracy in the local government,
• establishment of a lobbyists’ register,
• digital mapping of the forest resources.

Here you can find more information on the mentioned recommendations submitted by CSO’s Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia and ALA: https://armla.am/en/3374.html

It is worth mentioning that 3 out of 7 recommendations have been incorporated in the Action Plan concerning the expansion of the list of public officials’ declarations, establishment of a beneficial owners’ register and the local government. Although the recommendations concerning the establishment of a lobbyists’ register, introduction of a program on stolen asset recovery and anti-corruption compliance mechanisms have not been enshrined in the Action Plan, nevertheless an agreement was reached to include them in the new RA Anti-Corruption Strategy.

Photos  from gov.am, OGP Armenia, Armavir Development Center and ALA.