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On December 11, the project Public Finance Management in the South Caucasus jointly with the RA NA Staff and the RA NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs organized the cognitive visit of the Deutsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to the RA National Assembly.

The representatives of the GIZ Armenia Staff took a tour in the parliament, got familiarized with its history, and met with the RA NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General Ara Saghatelyan and the members of the RA NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs.

Welcoming the guests in the RA National Assembly, the RA NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General Ara Saghatelyan highlighted the implementation of the GIZ projects in Armenia, touched upon the effective cooperation of the GIZ and the RA National Assembly in the course of the years.

Ara Saghatelyan highly assessed the works done within the framework of the Public Finance Management and legal projects with the RA NA Standing Committees, according to relevant spheres.

The RA NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General touched upon the support shown by the project Public Finance Management in the South Caucasus in the process turning into budgeting, in strengthening of the parliamentary oversight function and the establishment of the RA NA Buget Office.

Mr Saghatelyan emphasized the new launched project the Capacity Building of the Parliamentary Staffs in the Eastern Partnership by which it was designed to implement a work directed to the capacity building of the RA NA Staff.

Ara Saghatelyan expressed hope that the cooperation with the GIZ would be of continuous character and would give tangible result.

The GIZ Country Director Anne Dorit Kempa has thanked Ara Saghatelyan for the reception and the tour and noted that working with different Armenian institutions their company attaches special place to the cooperation with the RA National Assembly. Mrs Kempa referred to the processes going on after the Constitutional reforms in Armenia and in terms of turning from the semi-presidential system into the parliamentary government highlighted the parliamentary capacity building.

Anne Dorit Kempa noted with joy that the Government of Germany gave an opportunity to support the RA National Assembly, especially the parliamentary staff. In the word of the Head of the GIZ Country Director, assessment of the parliamentary needs is held which will give an opportunity to show targeted support. Regarding the improvement of the parliamentary activity transparency and the effective use of the oversight mechanisms Mrs Kempa presented the German experience.

Thanking the German side for cooperation and the jointly implemented effective projects the Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gagik Minasyan comprehensively presented the work done in about fifteen years.

Gagik Minasyan referred to the goals of cooperation and the institutional reforms. Mr Minasyan presented the processes of the creation of the RA NA Budget Office and the adoption of the RA draft law on the Audit Chamber and the works underway in the programme budgeting. Mr Minasyan also talked about the two projects concerning the parliamentary oversight being in the preliminary phase of the implementation and the parliament-higher educational audit body cooperation project.

The Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs touched upon the importance of the public communication and regional cooperation, noting that during the years numerous meetings and discussions had been organized, including with the Georgian colleagues.

At the end of the discussion Gagik Minasyan expressed hope that the GIZ-the RA NA cooperation projects would be continuous and fruitful.