Tuesday, 4 October 2005
Today RA Prime minister A. Margaryan has received Chairman of the Congress of Regional and Executive Authorities of the Council of Europe Mr. Giovanni Di Stasi.
Appreciative of Armenias nearly 10-year-long cooperation with the Congress aimed at institutional capacity building in the system of local self-government and the monitoring thereof, the Prime minister has expressed hope that the mutually advantageous cooperation would be continued in future, too. He welcomed the visit of the Congress Chairman to Armenia, especially as local elections were being held in our country, which happened to be observed by a field mission from the Congress. The head of the Armenian government noted that at this point of time active processes were underway in Armenia, including the debates over the constitutional amendments, in particular. A referendum is pending on the corresponding bill, the RA law on community service is awaiting consideration in the National Assembly and, finally, the law on local self-government is to be amended to provide for enhanced efficiency in the monitoring arrangements for the system of local self-government.
Mr. Giovanni said that having kept on track local elections in Armenia over the past few years, he could witness a clear improvement of the state of affairs in this area: the rate of turn-out was up with increased experience had by the general public and the authorities on the way to building democratic institutions which, according to him, was quite promising. With reference to constitutional amendments, the Chairman of Congress has emphasized the electivity of the mayor of Yerevan and the steps towards power decentralization. He evaluated positively the idea of adopting a law on intercommunity associations. Mr. Stasi expressed willingness to assist Armenia to meet the requirements of European Charter on Local Self-Government as ratified by our country in 2003.
The parties have also have touched upon the question of regional cooperation. The Prime Minister stressed that on its way to European integration Armenia had been advocating for active regional collaboration and would henceforth continue making efforts to that effect. Prioritizing the cooperation between neighboring countries, Mr. Stasi said that from this point of view he judged unacceptable the closure of the common border with Armenia on the part of Turkey as it was in contradiction with the demarcation line-rejecting European way of thinking. In effort to support any regional cooperation-friendly action, inclusive of Armenia's endeavors, he suggested establishing a regional center of local self-government authorities which, according to him, would promote the strengthening of the political, economic and cultural ties between these countries. On behalf of the government of Armenia, the Prime Minister expressed readiness to stand by any such initiatives as might help solve the problems of regional coverage. He went on to welcome the international conference entitled "Trans-boundary Cooperation in Europe" starting in Yerevan tomorrow by wishing it good progress and successful completion.
