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On May 21 with the initiative of the RA NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs and the support of the USAID-funded Support to the Armenian National Assembly (SANAP) and Deutsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Government the Conclusive Conference of the Phase I Activities for Improvement of Budget Program Key Performance Indicators was held. The RA NA Deputy Speaker Hermine Naghdalyan, deputies, representatives of the RA Government, the NA Staff, local NGOs and international organizations participated in the event.

The NA Deputy Speaker Hermine Naghdalyan gave an opening speech:

“Dear Deputy Head of Mission Ms Lichtenberger, dear Mr Chanmugam, dear Mrs Kempa, dear Mr McNally, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, the reforms being implemented in the budgetary system of Armenia are aimed to essentially improve the efficiency of management, accountability and transparency. of public finances. The efficient solutions of these problems will not only contribute to the dynamic development of the country, but they will also make the whole budget process, from drafting to implementation and reporting, more visible, perceivable and controllable for the wide layers of the society. One of the practical means of increasing the efficiency of the management system of public finances is to invest the budget program (BP). The RA Government has undertaken consistent steps more than ten years on contributing to the program budgeting in the country. A big amount of work has been done in this direction, as a result of which, Armenia is considered one of the leading ones among the post-Soviet countries in terms of program budgeting. It is necessary to note that in every state the implementation of the program budgeting is a long lasting process. In this respect, the study of the international best experience of all phases of the process and its localization in Armenia is very important.

It is known that already the state budget for 2018 should be prepared and submitted to the RA National Assembly with programming format. At the same time the international experience prompts that the complete phase of the investment of the program budgeting is possible to efficiently complete with cooperation of the main players, legislator and executive body, of the public finance management system.

Stemming from this principle, the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, within the frameworks of cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the USAID SANAP implements a program of continuous development works of the professional capabilities of the RA National Assembly.

We emphasize and highly assess our colleagues’ assistance of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany in this important work.

Within the frameworks of those works theoretical and practical discussions on the program budgeting were held for the NA deputies and experts. Two booklets on the program budgeting reforms were revised and published in Armenia: first one, of popular character, the second, for professional, applicable use.

In the practical phase, from November 2014, at the NA eight Standing Committees with the participation of the legislator, executive body and the specialists of the program partner international structures joint working groups have been set up, aiming at developing key performance indicators for the budgetary programs concerning the sphere of the Committee.

Highlighting this work it is at the centre of attention of the NA President.

Today, we already wrap up the Phase I activities of improving the key performance indicators, having developed key performance for 12 programs. The process will be continuous and will last till the end of 2017. It will contribute to compiling the RA state budget for 2018 with the full program format.

I would like especially to stress that this voluminous work is possible to successfully complete only as a result of continuous, concerned cooperation of the RA National Assembly, the RA Government and our international partners.”

The representatives of the international structures also delivered speeches.

Nadia Lichtenberger, Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy to the RA, has noted that the effective implementation of the budgeting process is a precondition for providing stable development in the country. And the parliament has a big role, particularly, in terms of providing transparency, efficiency and accountability.

According to Naren Chanmugam, the USAID Armenia Economic Growth Office Director, the program budgeting dictinctly affirms the priorities and provide control on the Government performance.

According to Anne Kempa, Head of the GIZ Armenia Office, progress is possible, when all the concerned parties are inclined to the implementation of the common goal: the management of state finances, which stems from the interests of the population and the RA citizens.

Sean McNally, the Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Support to the Armenian National Assembly (SANAP) also welcomed the participants of the conference. He has noted that the goal of the program is to strengthen the democratic management, making more inclusive the representation, control and analytical capabilities of the National Assembly.

The Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gagik Minasyan has noted that in all countries the addressee of turning into program budgeting is the parliament, as the latter should be consistent to clarify how efficient are used those allocations. The main goal of the program is to increase the level of awareness of the NA deputies and employees on the PB main ideas and promote the formation of the performance key indicators (KPI) of the program budgeting.

Atom Janjughazyan, the RA Deputy Minister of Finance-Chief Treasurer, talked about the necessity of complete and full implementation of the program budgeting system in Armenia and highlighted the exact formulation of the performance indicators.

During the event the representatives of the NA 8 Standing Committees presented detailed information about the key performance indicators of the budgetary programs regarding the Committee.

Wrapping-up the discussion Gagik Minasyan has stated that during conference the Phase I to develop the KPI were summed up, and the works will continue until 2018 for promoting the improvement of the KPI of other budgetary programs.