Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan has posted a comment on his Facebook page, touching upon the problems with exercise of the right to freedom of information.

He particularly wrote the following:

“The right to receive information is of pivotal significance in any democratic state. Every citizen of the Republic of Armenia is entitled to receive information about the activities of state and local self-government bodies and officials by virtue of the Constitution. Every person has the freedom to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas.

Ensuring transparency, involvement and effectiveness of the public administration system through exercise of the right to freedom of information is fundamental for the government.

Taking into consideration the complaints of citizens in this sector, we have examined the information regarding the contacts of officials available on the websites of state bodies, and it turns out that the work phone numbers and e-mail addresses of officials are either missing or incomplete on the websites of several state bodies, and this is a problem.

I have forwarded an assignment to state departments to ensure accessibility and publicity of information, including the publication of the names, last names, positions, work phone numbers and e-mail addresses of officials of state bodies. State bodies have also been assigned to bring their respective official websites into compliance with the requirements set upon the decision of the Government of Armenia."