Highest points at Plenary Meeting of the OECD in Paris given for independence of judicial system of Armenia, development of anti-corruption policy and conduct of monitoring. Armenia has improved its position

The delegation led by Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan participated in the negotiations between the assessment team of the Anti-Corruption Network of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the delegation of the Republic of Armenia, and later in the Plenary Meeting of the Steering Group of the Anti-Corruption Network.

The visit was targeted at the negotiations over the draft Assessment Report of the OECD Anti-Corruption Network entitled "Anti-corruption Reforms in Armenia" and the adoption of the draft Report. The assessment features 9 areas of performance that concern not only the spheres of activity of the legislative, executive and judicial powers, independent and autonomous bodies and law-enforcement bodies of the Republic of Armenia, but also the activities of legal entities of the private sector and organisations with state participation.

After additional discussions and negotiations, the delegation of the Republic of Armenia succeeding in increasing the assessments on the area of performance related to the independence of the judicial system and correct the formulations existing in the draft Report in order to present the anti-corruption reforms in the Republic of Armenia more accurately.

Based on the results of the assessment, the highest points were given to the development of an anti-corruption policy and conduct of monitoring of the latter, independence of the judicial system, integrity in the procurement system.

Let us remind that the assessment was launched in December 2022, and the visit of the OECD assessment team — within the scope of assessment — took place on 18-21 April of this year, within the scope of which the discussions of the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan in April were held with representatives of interested state bodies, non-governmental organisations, representatives of the business sector and international donor organisations.

The assessment process will last until 2026, during which the Republic of Armenia will present reports on implementation of the recommendations, and the OECD will assess compliance of the implemented reforms with the given recommendations.

The OECD assessment is the most comprehensive among international assessments, and this is extremely important for international organisations and analytical centres when assessing the investment climate in the Republic of Armenia, and this assessment lies at the core of ranking international assessments of countries.

Let us mention that the delegation of the Republic of Armenia was represented by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) led by Chairperson of the SJC Karen Andreasyan, and among the participants were members of the SJC, representatives from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Anti-Corruption Committee and the Central Bank.