YEREVAN. - Having in mind that so many prosperous businessmen and rich people are in the National Assembly and the Government of the Republic of Armenia, this issue is of utmost importance to prevent conflicts of interest. Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Świtalski said the aforementioned at the international "National and International Efforts for Applied Ethics" conference held in Yerevan today.

"Armenia will not make a decisive breakthrough towards a prosperous economy without Armenian citizens having deep and intricate trust in public institution and officials. This trust can only be founded in two pillars - meritocracy and integrity. Meritocracy means that official are selected based on their competence and not through connections or nepotism, and integrity is a commitment to run an honest and clean government,” he said.

Mr Świtalski also urged to give more powers to the Ethics Commission of High Ranking Officials, which should not only make reports, but also carry out investigations for revealing cases of abuse.

For his part, Ambassador of Germany to Armenia, Matthias Kiesler, noted that the corruption also influences the investments. According to him, the level of transparency with regard to the business activity of the members of the National Assembly, Armenian Government and other state officials should be raised. Declaration of their property is a good step on the part of the officials, Mr Kiesler added.