Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan attended a discussion entitled “Dialogue on Local Economic Development,” during which the “Economic Development in Communities” manual was presented. The manual was developed by the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development in cooperation with the German International Cooperation Agency.
Highlighting the event, the Prime Minister said it consistent with the Government’s policy in the field of territorial administration.
“We have repeatedly stated that we need to add a new breath and a new quality to the government-Marz administrations-communities three-level management. At the administrative level, today’s imperative for managers is to keep with the times by working hard on themselves. We have repeatedly stated that proportionate territorial development is a very important issue in our country. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia, first of all, are trying to solve their problems in the community. The government’s performance is assessed based on the status of local transportations, business environment, sanitation, their understanding of justice, jobs and so on,” the Head of Government said.
Karen Karapetyan noted that training courses were recently organized in the American University of Armenia for Marz governors, which proves that the process of developing community managers’ skills should be continued. “In this regard, we are taking certain steps. By the end of the last year, we had formulated what kind of community development programs should be presented. We have received such programs from all communities. In addition, communities have submitted business plans that can change the business environment and contribute to job creation. Some programs are being supported already. Unfortunately, the quality of those programs is far from modern requirements. But We should not get tired out, and must reach such level of governance that the citizens of Armenia expect of us,” the Prime Minister pointed out.
The Premier thanked the international partners, the United Nations Development Program, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the German International Cooperation Agency, the US Agency for International Development, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and others for support and cooperation in this process.
The Prime Minister wished the participants effective work, expressing confidence that the discussions and exchange of ideas would bring new breath and approaches to public administration.