Today, Mr. Artur Khachatryan, Governor of Shirak Marz and Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, held a working meeting in Shirak Governor’s Office. At the beginning of the meeting, Karen Zadoyan congratulated Artur Khachatryan on his appointment as Shirak governor and wished him productive work.
In the course of the meeting Artur Khachatryan highlighted the participation of civil society organizations in solving regional problems and elaboration of evidence based public policies, and at the same time stressed the importance of constructive and effective cooperation between the regional administration and CSOs.
Karen Zadoyan presented the activities to be carried out in Shirak marz within the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project, noting that at present the NGOs of the region are provided with free legal assistance on harmonization of the NGOs’ statutes and activities with the requirements of the RA Law “On Non-Governmental Organizations.” Further, the President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association informed that it was envisaged within the framework of the project to establish a CSOs’ incubator in Shirak marz, which will provide 10 NGOs with practical knowledge and skills on developing evidence based public policies; carrying out public monitoring; developing CSO Coalitions/Networks; as well as conducting constructive and sustainable dialogue with the state and local government bodies aimed to develop the capacities of CSOs. It is envisaged that in the framework of the project small grants will be provided on a competitive basis to incubator graduate NGOs.
Then the sides exchanged views on the importance of fight against corruption in Armenia. The governor of Shirak marz emphasized the necessity of continuous anti-corruption training of public servants, saying that the regional administration is also open in terms of cooperation with professional CSOs.
Karen Zadoyan presented that within the framework of Open Government Partnership Action Plan Armenia’s Government and Armenian Lawyers’ Association have already planned to carry out training of 200 public servants in Shirak, Lori, Gegharkunik and Syunik marzes, as well as in Yerevan on the integrity and anti-corruption issues.
At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to organize the training of 15 civil servants of Shirak Governor’s Office in the office of Shirak marz of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association on August 21.
Miss Victoria Eghoyan, responsible of the Shirak marz brunch of the Armenian Lawyers/ Association participated in the working meeting as well.
