Rustam Badasyan receives delegation led by US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker

Today, Acting Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan received the delegation led by the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs Philip Reeker.

The meeting was also attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Armenia Lynne Tracy.

Rustam Badasyan welcomed the visit of the US high-ranking official to Armenia, noting that it shows the close cooperation between the governments of the two countries and reaffirms the commitment to build strong democratic institutions in Armenia.

The Acting Minister expressed his gratitude to the US Government for supporting the Armenian agenda of reforms, anti-corruption, judicial and police reforms, and thanked Ambassador Tracy for her excellent leadership, as well as attached importance to the cooperation with the USA Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and USAID.

The US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker thanked for the meeting, attached importance to the cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Armenia in strengthening the rule of law, and noted that he had arrived in Yerevan to learn about the challenges of the country, having arisen conditioned by the 2020 pandemic and tragic events for Armenia.

During the conversation, the American official considered the early parliamentary elections held in Armenia in 2018 impressive and voiced hope that the upcoming elections will also be democratic, free and fair.

During the meeting, Rustam Badasyan referred to the implementation of the Government strategies for the fight against corruption, the reforms of the judicial system and the police, in particular, the mechanisms introduced to check the integrity of judges, the establishment of strong anti-corruption institutions, as well as the work on the establishment of the Ministry of Interior and the Patrol Service within the framework of police reforms.

At the end of the meeting, the parties reaffirmed the commitment of the Governments of the two countries to maintain and expand the cooperation.