On December 9, one year after the launch of the comprehensive measurement process of the RA public administration system in November 2024, the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Support for Improvement in Governance and Management (SIGMA) programme organized a joint conference to present the measurement results and hold a professional discussion. I am sure they will be a landmark for the development of a new strategy for public administration reforms. The RA NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General Davit Arakelyan noted this at the event held in the National Assembly, where the Baseline Measurement Report on Public Administration of Armenia by the SIGMA programme was submitted to the NA Standing Committees.
According to Davit Arakelyan, in the countries with parliamentary governance system, including Armenia, the legislative body is permanently at the centre of reforms. The NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General underscored that the NA Staff also actively participated in the measurement process, providing the necessary data and documents.
At the end of his speech Davit Arakelyan thanked the SIGMA experts for their professional work.
Within the framework of the report Armenia was assessed using the same methodology and standards as the states in the process of integration with the EU. All bodies of the public administration system were actively involved in the SIGMA measurement process. In the near future, the work will begin on developing a new Public Administration Reform Strategy based on the recommendations of this report.
First, the Head of the SIGMA programme Gregor Virant presented the essence of the programme, and noted that now they are working with the EU 8 and the European Neighbourhood member 9 countries. “Although Armenia is not an EU candidate country, its partnership with the EU and aspirations for the EU integration are much stronger than in other neighbouring countries,” Gregor Virant underscored. Among the reforms, the rapporteur especially emphasized the reforms of the public administration fields and presented in detail the report, the measurement standards and the progress and challenges of our country in the public administration field. “I think that the administration system has both strong and weak sides. “One of the strong sides is considered to be the digitalization processes, transparency, on the other hand, you have weaknesses in the civil service sector,” the rapporteur stated and assured that they will continue to support the development of the field within the framework of their mandate. He positively appreciated the activities of the legislative body, noting that the legislative work in the Parliament of Armenia is transparent.
“The accessibility of laws is very high. Armenia, I would say, is a champion among the countries we have assessed, because all laws, regulations adopted by the Government, even ministerial decisions are freely available online. Thus, Armenia serves as a good example,” The Regional Manager of the EU Neighbourhood East of the SIGMA Programme Igle Rimkute stated and spoke about the problems and challenges in the field of public administration in our country.
The Head of the EU delegation, Ambassador Vassilis Maragos assured that the EU delegation is ready to support the work of the SIGMA.
Afterwards in the format of the discussions and Q&A session, reference was made to the importance of the state system modernization, in the field of public administration, issues of state financial management, digitalization of services, effective communication with the public, human resources management, and development of institutional capacities of the Staff were discussed. Issues regarding the legal sphere and the EU integration were discussed, and in terms of the attractiveness of the public service, the possibilities of reviewing the salaries of employees in the field of public administration. Separate attention was paid to ensuring the transparency of the activities of the National Assembly, the procedures for debating and adopting laws. It was noted that such discussions will be continuous. This will give an opportunity to understand the problems, evaluate the work done, and identify future actions in the context of public administration reforms.
Let us mention that the SIGMA is a joint programme of the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and its mission in the public administration reforms is the work for the countries being in the EU integration process.
The NA deputies, the representatives of the NA Staff and international donor organizations participated in the event held on December 10.
