Steering Committee meeting of Armenia-Council of Europe 2015-2018 Action Plan held in Yerevan
On May 23, the Steering Committee Meeting of the Armenia-Council of Europe 2015-2018 Action Plan took place in Yerevan. Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Garen Nazarian and Director of the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes of the Council of Europe Verena Taylor co-chaired the meeting. Permanent Representative of Armenia to the Council of Europe Paruyr Hovhannisyan, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Armenia Natalia Voutova, high-level representatives of the Armenian authorities, involved in the Action Plan projects, representatives of the Council of Europe Secretariat and the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan participated in the discussions.
In his opening remarks Deputy Foreign Minister Garen Nazarian mentioned that since the adoption of the Action Plan dozens of projects and hundreds of events have taken place both on national and regional level. These actions have a special role in the capacity-building component of the relations with the Council of Europe, as well as in the implementation of the commitments Armenia entered into upon its accession to the Organisation.
Participants of the meeting were updated on the state of implementation of the projects in the areas of protecting and promoting human rights, ensuring justice, the rule of law and democratic governance. The Armenian side reiterated its readiness to continue the close cooperation towards executing the Action Plan.
The Council of Europe 2015-2018 Action Plan for Armenia was adopted in October, 2015 and officially launched in May, 2016. Within the framework of the Action Plan large-scale projects on improving human rights protection in the armed forces, support to the justice reforms, local democracy and others are being implemented. These projects are financed by the European Union, United Kingdom, Switzerland and other donor-countries and are realised by the Council of Europe Office in Armenia in cooperation with the relevant national stakeholders.
