On 20 July, RA Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Mr. Hakob Avagyan met with the members of the Armenian Business Coalition in the scope of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” (CCD) project.
Mr. Karen Gevorgyan, the Deputy Executive Director of SME National Development Centre, Ms. Mariam Badalyan, a representative from GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation), Mr. Koryun Gevorgyan, a representative from the RA Ministry of Economic Development and Investments, were also present at the meeting.
In Mr. Avagyan’s words, the interests of the ministry, GIZ, and the consortium are the same and there is a need to write a new strategy of SME sector development. He also noted that GIZ is a supporting organisation in this case.
Ms. Mariam Badalyan mentioned that they are ready to carry out deep monitoring/analysis of the existing strategy and the actions presented in it in the scope of that support. As those actions are also foreseen in the sub-grant project implemented by the Armenian Business Coalition, the parties discussed the matter of avoiding overlaps and using time and resources efficiently.
The parties decided that both entities would implement monitoring and then compare the data. That would be more efficient. Afterwards, functions would be divided per territories and beneficiaries.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organizations, which are “Armenian Lawyers’ Association”, Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), “Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS” NGO, “International Center for Human Development” Public Organization, “SME Cooperation Association” NGO and Union of Communities of Armenia.
