Friday, 27 September 2019
Tigran Avinyan receives President of Freedom of Information Center in Armenia
On September 27, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan received Shushan Doydoyan, President of the Freedom of Information Center in Armenia, and Mane Madoyan, Coordinator of Freedom of Information Initiative.
Welcoming the guests, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that transparency and accountability are the main guidelines of the government. He highlighted the continued work of civil society in protecting the right to freedom of information in Armenia and developing a relevant culture, as well as assisting in the development of legislation in the field.
Thankful for the reception, Shushan Doydoyan considered it symbolic that the meeting was taking place on the eve of the International Day of Freedom of Information. She appreciated Armenian top leadership’s attention to this issue, noting that an impetus for the meeting was the Deputy Prime Minister’s instruction to state bodies as issued on September 5 to observe the provisions of the RA Law on Freedom of Information. Shushan Doydoyan emphasized that according to their surveys and analyses, significant progress was made in ensuring freedom of information in 2019 as compared to 2018.
At the same time, she said there are still a number of problems and challenges in this field. She outlined the shortfalls in the public system-citizen relationship and made suggestions for their solution.
In this regard, Tigran Avinyan advised that the process of elaborating a public administration reform strategy has kicked off recently with the aim of completely revising the governance system, which among other issues, will lead to greater transparency and accountability in the public system.
The Deputy Prime Minister expressed the view that many of the provisions proposed by civil society would be incorporated into the public administration reform strategy and suggested that the interlocutors be actively involved in this process.
In addition, agreement was reached that the organizations present at the meeting should monitor the situation with regard to the right to freedom of information and that the results would be brought to the Government’s attention.
