EU to continue supporting reforms in justice sector — Grigor Minasyan receives delegation led by EU Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin

Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan received the delegation led by Ambassador of the European Union to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin.

Grigor Minasyan expressed gratitude to the EU Ambassador for the co-operation throughout the years. The Minister highly appreciated the support of the EU which is targeted at implementation of reforms in the justice sector, particularly in the judicial sector and the anti-corruption field.

The importance of the 2022-2026 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms, the reforms in the arbitration sector and the support provided for the development of electronic justice platforms was particularly emphasised, as well as the EU Twinning Programme "Promoting Integrity and Preventing Corruption in the Public Sector of Armenia", which was launched with the participation of representatives of state administration of the Republic of Armenia in Yerevan and is aimed at laying more effective institutional foundations for the fight that the Republic of Armenia is leading against corruption, on the basis of the practice of the EU and the practice of other leading countries.

Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin congratulated Grigor Minasyan on his appointment and highly appreciated the reforms being implemented by the Ministry of Justice, and positively assessed the outcomes of the constructive co-operation between non-governmental organisations and the Ministry of Justice.

Ambassador Wiktorin also underscored the importance of the EU Budgetary Support Agreement and expressed hope that the joint co-operation will continue openly, transparently and effectively. The Ambassador emphasised that the EU has already provided financial assistance for implementation of the reforms in the justice sector and that the assistance will be ongoing.

The Minister attached importance to the acquisition of an electronic oversight system required for imposing alternative measures of restraint and obtained through the joint funds of the State Budget and the grant of the EU, which is aimed at easing the current situation in penitentiary institutions. In his remarks, the Minister stated that the equipment has already started to be applied.

Both parties also attached importance to the support that the EU has provided within the scope of police reforms, particularly the work done for acquisition of vehicles for the Patrol Service and for establishment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The European Union, in the context of the "Supporting the criminal justice reform and harmonisation of application of European standards in Armenia" Project within the scope of the EU/CoE Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) Project, has organised a presentation of the opinion of international experts on the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes, the development of the Codes by national experts, the conduct of training courses with regard to the new Codes for consecutive months, etc.

The parties also touched upon a number of topics of mutual interest.