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On February 16, the RA NA Vice President Arpine Hovhannisyan and the RA NA Chief of Staff-Secretary General Ara Saghatelyan met with the participants of the Open Parliament initiative.

The Ambassadors accredited in the RA, representatives of the international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also took part in the meeting.

The concept of the Open Parliament initiative, which was worked out by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the joint efforts of the RA NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs and Protection of Human Rights, the Staffs of the RA National Assembly and the RA NA Vice President Arpine Hovhannisyan, was discussed. The goal of the initiative is to make more accessible for the public the activities of the parliaments.

Noting that Armenia is one of the first countries joining the Open Government Partnership, Arpine Hovhannisyan highlighted the implementation of the ideas of that programme at parliamentary level. The RA NA Vice President has noted that taking into consideration the fact of being more open and transparent of the National Assembly by passing into the system of the parliamentary government, a concept was worked out, the pillars of which are the information accessibility, the involvement of the public society in the parliamentary processes, the accountability and the innovative technologies.

By Arpine Hovhannisyan’s assessment, the initiative is the best platform of cooperating with the international partner organizations.

The RA NA Chief of Staff-Secretary General Ara Saghatelyan has presented the reforms going on in the National Assembly of Armenia and in the Staff which are conditioned by the new role assumed of the legislative body by passing into the parliamentary government form. He has assured that the RA NA leadership is resolute in the implementation of the Open Parliament idea. The RA NA Chief of Staff-Secretary General has underlined that the RA National Assembly effectively implements programmes directed to the development of the parliament’s capacities with a number of international colleagues.

Ara Saghatelyan has stated that appropriate actions are implemented in the development of the parliamentary oversight mechanisms and the provision of transparency. He has also presented the steps to be taken in the compilation of the material-technical base of the Staff, which are aimed at the provision of making public the parliamentary work, has touched upon the steps directed to the effective organization of the work of the journalists accredited in the National Assembly. In the issue of the abovementioned reforms Ara Saghatelyan highlighted the mutually beneficial cooperation with the international colleagues.

The participants of the Open Parliament initiative presented the phases and the results of the implementation of the programme in a number of countries.

The participants expressed readiness to meet and continue the discussion in the future.