On June 12, Mr. Artur Khachatryan RA Minister of Agriculture met with the representatives of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project, Mr. Karen Zadoyan, Project Manager, President of the Armenian Lawyers Association, Mr. Hakob Avagyan, Business and Related Sectors Coordinator of the project and the representatives of the Agricultural Alliance of Armenia, which was awarded the sub-grant in the Project target Agricultural sector.
The meeting was aimed at introducing the “Participatory Policies, Sustainable Agriculture” Project to be implemented by the Agricultural Alliance of Armenia.
Presenting the program, Karen Zadoyan mentioned that the strengthening of the Armenian Agricultural Alliance within the framework of this project will solve two problems: monitoring and improving public policy in the field of agriculture. “We expect the real measurable results and the alliance that will be strengthened from the institutional perspective within the framework of this project will become stable and will remain a sustainable partner of the Ministry of Agriculture and assist the ministry in reforming the sector,” Karen Zadoyan said.
“We attach much importance to cooperation with civil society organisations, especially in the area of monitoring. We are expecting to get real results from the implementation of the program,” Artur Khachatryan, the RA Minister of Agriculture said.
He also added that there will be permanent contacts between the parties; regular meetings will be organised to present the problems in the sphere and summarize the implemented work.
In the course of the meeting representatives of the Agricultural Alliance of Armenia presented in detail the work to be done within the framework of the “Participatory Policies, Sustainable Agriculture” Project.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organisations, which are the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (lead organisation), Agora Central Europe (NGO based in the Czech Republic), the Armenian Centre for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, the International Centre for Human Development, the SME Cooperation Association and the Union of Communities of Armenia. The project is funded by the European Union and launched on 15 December, 2016. Duration of the project is 34 months.
The 9 target areas of the project are: Justice, Human Rights, Public Finance Management, Business, Education, Social sphere: Social inclusion of children with disabilities, Agriculture, Economy, and Energy. It is anticipated to disclose the issues that exist in the sectors through Government – CSO constructive dialogue format with the competent authorities of the sector; develop, advocate and improve public policy programs through innovative ideas and solutions.
