18mln euro worth CBC program of Black Sea countries launched in Armenia

YEREVAN, January 22. /ARKA/. Works on Cross Border Cooperation (CBC) of the Black Sea countries for a total of 18mln Euros have started in Armenia under the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), Armenian Deputy Minister of Economy Vahe Danielyan said.

This program is to maximally adapt Armenian institutional system to the European one and is very important to the country, Danielyan said at the first target seminar.

The Deputy Minister said that the program is to establish problems of the countries involved in the program, as well as to reduce social, cultural and technological gap between the EU-founder countries and the new members of the EU – and all this through joint efforts.

The program has three components – socioeconomic, cultural and environmental, and provides a wide range of opportunities for harmonization of institutional systems, Danielyan said. Among other advantages of the program is the possible regional cooperation, he added.

Head of project management agency of the Ministry of Economy Ruben Sarukhanyan, in his turn, said that the seminar is held to introduce the program to public agents and the staffs of the country’s regional administrations. Among the potential beneficiaries of the program are public organizations on tourism, ecology, culture, as well as business organizations, educational and cultural institutions, Sarukhanyan said.

Two large-scale seminars are planned to be held for individual applicants from public organizations, business communities, educational and cultural organizations, he said.

The Cross Border Cooperation program was approved by the European Commission on November 27 2008 and is to last till 2013 with a 10% co-financing from each of the member states. The program participants are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova entirely, as well as the adjacent regions of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. N.V. –0--