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The introduction of the idea ‘active citizen’ in all spheres of the activity is very important for us: the citizen shall feel closer to the National Assembly, well imagine the principles of the parliamentary country government and have connection with his/her deputy. The NA Staff in its turn should create favourable conditions strengthening that connection, beginning from the technical refurbishment to the creation and introduction of the scientific-educational platforms. The RA NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General Vahan Naribekyan said about this during the round-table discussion titled ‘National Assembly Staff – CSO Cooperation for Inclusiveness.”

On July 15, the discussion was held with the support of the NA Staff and the Parliamentary Centre (Canada) within the framework of the programme ‘Support to Parliament of Armenia,’ where deputies, representatives of a number of organizations of the civil society being engaged with the issues of inclusiveness of women, young people, persons with disability, employees of the NA Staff took part.

The NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General thanked the colleagues of the Parliamentary Centre for permanent support.

The RA NA Staff organized jointly with the Parliamentary Centre on March 7 organized a round table with the civil society organizations to discuss the issues of inclusiveness of the Corporative Strategic Plan. According to the Deputy Head of the RA NA Staff Heghine Khachikyan, the goal of today’s discussion is the presentation of the steps undertaken by the parliament after the first meeting for advancing the inclusiveness in the Corporative Strategic Plan, as well as for specifying the practical steps of the creation of the cooperation platforms. She presented the scope of the issues for the implementation of which the support of the NGOs is expected for making the processes more inclusive. Particularly, the importance the building of the National Assembly more inclusive and making more accessible for the persons with disability, taking into consideration the status of the historical-cultural monument of the building, as well as the issues of the website of the National Assembly and the inclusiveness of the educational programmes.

The Regional Director, Asia and Europe at Parliamentary Centre Ivo Balinov, thanking the deputies, the NA Staff, the representatives of the civil society organizations (CSO) for taking part in the discussion, noted that this event is an important step for agreeing and beginning a practical working process. He conveyed the address of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to the RA Alison Mary LeClaire to the participants of the discussion.

“The subject of the functions of the Standing Committee on Labor and Social Affairs is also the formation of the favourable legal environment for the persons with disability. Within the framework of the programme the civil society organizations will be as partners and advisers how to make more accessible the NA building, the official website, and in general, the activities of the National Assembly for the persons with disability. There are platforms already formed with the civil society on the basis of our Committee. We are also involved with the working groups formed on the NA Staff platform, the aim of which is to make the NA activity more inclusive for the benefit of equal realization in the society,” the Committee Chair Heriknaz Tigranyan said.

According to the member of the Standing Committee on Labor and Social Affairs Zaruhi Batoyan, the mission of the discussion is to make the parliament more inclusive. “The colleagues of Canada expressed readiness to develop the capacities of the NA Staff, to review the building conditions and provide the implementation of different programmes. I think that good tradition is formed, and we are passing to practical steps,” the deputy said.

The representatives of the civil society once again expressed willingness to support the NA Staff. Issues on formation of professional working groups, the accessibility of the parliament building and the training of the working staff with the citizens visiting the National Assembly were discussed. It was proposed to test the designing new website in terms of inclusiveness – information availability and accessibility for the persons with restricting sight or hearing.

An agreement was reached between the sides to make the meetings regular.