Minister of Justice receives European colleagues of EU-Armenia Parliamentary Co-operation Committee

Today, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Davit Harutyunyan received the European colleagues of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Co-operation Committee headed by Co-Chair of the Committee Sajjad Karim. Minister Harutyunyan expressed gratitude to the colleagues for the large-scale activities jointly carried out, and touched upon the processes having been implemented in the legislative sector following the amendments to the Constitution in 2015 and the processes being implemented in the legislative sector ahead of 9 April 2018. At the request of the European colleagues, the Minister of Justice also touched upon the judicial-legal reforms, particularly the introduction of mechanisms aimed at strengthening the independence of the judiciary, as well as presented the activities carried out in the anti-corruption sector. In regard to the latter, Minister Harutyunyan marked out criminalisation of illicit enrichment, restriction on cash flows, expansion of the scope of persons submitting declarations, improvement of the process of declaration, introduction of the institution of whistle-blowers, as well as the activities being carried out for the establishment of an Anti-Corruption Body. The Minister touched upon another anti-corruption theme, i.e. activities being carried out to provide citizens with state services and delegate public services to the private sector through the introduction of electronic tools. During the meeting, the Minister of Justice also presented the activities being carried out for the implementation of recommendations made in the final report of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission for the parliamentary elections held in the Republic of Armenia on 2 April 2017, attaching importance, in this context, to the draft laws on making amendments and a supplement to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia and a number of related laws developed by the Ministry of Justice, the adoption of which will help lead a more effective struggle to rule out cases of misuse of administrative resources during elections and referenda. At the end of the meeting, the parties expressed willingness to deepen the co-operation.