On December 11, the RA NA President Ara Babloyan received Bradley Busetto, UN Development Programme/UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia. The RA NA Vice President Arpine Hovhannisyan and the RA NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General Ara Saghatelyan attended the meeting.
Welcoming Bradley Busetto in the parliament, Ara Babloyan highlighted the effective cooperation existing between the RA National Assembly and the UNDP.
The RA NA President touched upon the reforms going on in human rights in Armenia, democracy, fight against domestic violence and other spheres.
Ara Babloyan underlined the importance of passing into the system of the parliamentary government, the legislative amendments to be made and the expansion of the parliamentary oversight functions.
Talking about the transparency of the parliamentary activity, the President of the RA National Assembly also stressed the participation of the civil society in the law making processes, as well as the importance of raising public awareness.
Touching upon the Open Government Partnership/OGP initiative being implemented by the UN, the Head of the parliament emphasized the participation of the RA National Assembly in those works.
The RA NA President highly assessed the continuing cooperation with the UNICEF. Ara Babloyan expressed hope that the cooperation between the RA National Assembly and the UNDP would be continuous and effective.
Thanking for the reception, Bradley Busetto attached importance to the cooperation with the RA National Assembly. Mr Busetto has noted that the UNDP aims at raising the efficiency of the activities of the RA National Assembly from the legislative and oversight viewpoints. He also talked about the capacity building of the RA National Assembly, the transparency of the implementation of the parliament’s key functions, accountability and participation of the civil society in the parliamentary processes.
At the end of the meeting the interlocutors referred to the successes recorded by the UNDP and the initiatives directed to the capacity building of the RA National Assembly Staff.