European commission to provide Armenia with 24 million euro to help improve public sector transparency and performance

YEREVAN, November 29. / ARKA /. The European Commission has adopted a program that would further improve Public Finance Management (PFM) systems in Armenia. It is the second part of the Annual Action Program (AAP) for Armenia for 2011, worth €24 million, a European Commission press release said.

The program will help improve public sector transparency and performance, including the broadening of e-governance systems. It will also foster regulatory convergence with the EU and international laws and standards in the areas of trade, for instance improving customs legislation.

‘Today's decision has shown the EU is ready to keep its promise to provide political support and increased assistance both financially and through advice and technical know-how,’ European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Štefan Füle said.

“The fact that the EU's assistance to Armenia grew substantially over the past years is a sign of the Commission's commitment to support the ongoing reform efforts as confirmed in the Council Conclusions on Friday,” said Commissioner Füle.
 
“EU assistance has direct influence on the everyday life of Armenian citizens,” he said, “since it aims for instance to improve data protection and to enhance and broaden e-governance systems in order to facilitate instant access for citizens to public databases.

In 2007-2010 the European Commission provided Armenia with 98.4 million euros through National Indicative Program (NIP) and will provide another 157 million in 2011-2013. -0-