Friday, 16 January 2009
Today the National Council on RA-EU Cooperation met at the Office of Government, presided at by council chairman, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
The Council heard and approved the report on the status of RA-EU action plan under the European Neighborhood Policy. The Prime Minister indicated that this meeting was anticipated by several consultations which passed under review the details of per-agency breakdown of activities. Tigran Sargsyan proposed to discuss the overall ideology of cooperation, as well as to look at specific actions under the cooperation program. He stressed that all concerned agencies were told to prepare individual action plans for cabinet discussion after finalization and endorsement on the part of the National Council.
The Council approved the status of Twinning, Tie-X, Sigma and Cross-Border cooperation programs under the European Neighborhood and Partnership Facility (ENPPF), as well as the Budget Support Program.
In an effort to meet today’s imperatives, the Council amended the title of the September 7, 2006 government decree N1282, which now reads as follows: “On setting up a national council and a steering committee for coordination of EU-Armenia cooperation in line with the EU-Armenia Action Plan under the European Neighborhood Policy with a view implementing the 2009-2011 primary tasks and priority actions and approving their by-laws and compositions.”
Corresponding changes were made to the statutes of the National Council. It has been decided that the council secretariat shall be staffed by appropriate divisions from the Staff of Government and the Staff of the Ministry of Economy.
Those present suggested changing the composition of the National Council to include representatives from a number of non-governmental organizations which were in attendance of the meeting. All specified NGOs will be engaged in council activities following discussion and approval of the proposal.
