Rustam Badasyan receives delegation led by Vice-President of the High Council of the Judiciary of Italy

Today, Minister of Justice received the delegation led by Vice-President of the High Council of the Judiciary of Italy David Ermini.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to the Republic of Armenia Vincenzo del Monaco, members of the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia Grigor Bekmezyan, Hayk Hovhannisyan and others also participated in the meeting.

Welcoming the high-ranking delegation to the Ministry of Justice, Rustam Badasyan emphasised the existence and necessity of potential for developing the co-operation.

The Vice-President of the HCJ of Italy expressed his gratitude for the reception and informed that he has already managed to meet with the members of the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia, got acquainted with the functions of the newly established body and identified the similarities and differences. In this context, David Ermini emphasised that an agreement has been reached with the Armenian counterparts on developing the mutual co-operation and on signing a Memorandum of Co-operation between the two institutions of Armenia and Italy in the nearest future.

Minister Badasyan welcomed the agreement contributing to the exchange of experience through the signing of a Memorandum and touched upon the content of legislative packages targeted at reform in the judicial sector developed as a result of close co-operation with the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia aimed at assessing the integrity of judges through the introduction of new tools that is best described in the Opinion of the Venice Commission — effective fight against corruption within the judicial system, without undermining the independence of judicial authorities. Attaching importance also to the need for strengthening social guarantees for judges, Rustam Badasyan informed that there is already a political decision on significantly increasing the salaries of judges starting from 2020.

David Ermini felt honoured to co-operate with Armenia, which has a rich history and culture, and expressed willingness for close and effective partnership.