On 26 June, The Armenian Business Coalition organized the final conference of the sub-grant “Capacity Building of the Armenian Business Coalition” sub-grant project ” Project, implemented in the scope of the EU funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project.
Members of the Armenian Business Coalition and representatives of CSOs, as well as CCD Project Manager, President of the Armenian Association of Lawyers, Karen Zadoyan, vice-president of SME Cooperation Association Hakob Avagyan and MP Sofya Hovsepyan attended the conference.
Attaching importance to the project and the results achieved, Mr. Karen Zadoyan, CCD Project Manager, President of the Armenian Association of Lawyers, greeted the guests.
“The important thing is that after the completion of the project there is an institutional structure that will continue its work even after the end of the project. I want to give advice ‘please continue involving new organizations, I know that there are already well established business associations which ready to be involved in the process, which will further enhance the potential and role of the business coalition,” he said.
Mr. Gagik Vardanyan, Director of the Civic Development and Partnership Foundation, Secretary of the Armenian Business Coalition delivered a welcoming speech, “It is necessary to consolidate the potential of CSOs in Armenia, without which it will be impossible to propose and implement substantial improvements of the sectoral significance. These opportunities should be used, in particular, to involve public discussion from a formal to a practical and devoted dimension, to influence the development and implementation of the state’s economic policy, to make a substantial contribution to the development of SME strategy, to incorporate social entrepreneurship into the state strategy and education system, and to provide state support, public monitoring and control over drafting and management of the public budget,” he said.
Highlighting the creation of a business coalition created within the framework of the project Ms Satik Badeyan, President of the ASEA said, “The Association of Social Enterprises of Armenia was one of the organizations that initiated the creation of the business coalition. This was due to the fact that in 2015, when the Association of Social Enterprises was created, we deeply realized that there was a need to consolidate strengths in the business field and to start cooperating with business associations from the very first months of the creation.”
“When you have business ideas and you do not realize that you do your own business but rather build the country, and you do not have supporters, even those with ideas, who will support this idea, even encouraging verbally, then you cannot advance alone. We have also been the bearer when we set up new homes in the frontier settlements just because everyone in the frontier settlements would become independent and unwilling to support anybody and to create and live. At that time, we seemed to be alone when the Social Enterprise Association was created in 2015 and we joined it. It was so interesting when there were people who had the same kind of heart and even supported the ideas by promoting verbally,” highlighting the existence of the coalition, said member of the National Assembly, Ms Sofya Hovhannisyan.
Mr. Hakob Avagyan, President of the SME Cooperation Association, in his speech, attached importance to the project and the creation of the coalition. “When the project was drafted with the Armenian Association of Lawyers and other partners, we had many dreams that with EU support we can actually change mechanisms and institutions in our country. If we look at this project, it seems like just beautiful words, business ombudsman, social entrepreneurship concept … but they are just my dream to change not only the business but also the institution and structure those changes in our country so that the field can move forward independently. That is why these ideas have been put in the project,” he said.
Further, Gagik Vardanyan, Satik Badeyan, Anahit Shahbazyan, from Territorial Business Center Business Support NGO, expert Elinar Vardanyan presented the course of the project, the main achievements, in particular: Creating a coalition with more than 25 members, which has a regulation, a governing body, an online web site, an e-learning and distance learning platform, productive work with industry experts, cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and the NA Economic Affairs Committee, capacity building of SME members and presenting a revised draft on the business ombudsman to the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, which undertook to commitment to promote this initiative it; as well as the procurement legislation reform, developed jointly with the Armenian Lawyers’ Association and submitted the proposals to the RA Ministry of Finance.
The event ended with the presentation of future plans of the Coalition by Gagik Vardanyan, the Secretary of the Armenian Business Coalition.
