Yerevan today hosted the pilot workshop for the “Establishment of a toolkit and institutional framework for land management for regulation of problems with non-use of lands” Program. The workshop was organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Ministry of Economy of Armenia.

The main goal of the program is to assist the Ministry of Economy of Armenia in solving the problems with non-use of lands through the establishment of a new legal and institutional framework and a toolkit for land management.

Among the participants were representatives and specialists of the Ministry of Economy of Armenia, the State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre, the Armenian National Agrarian University, advisory services, as well as regional governors’ offices and municipalities.

“Land reforms are primary issues. Currently, about a third of arable lands are not cultivated or aren’t cultivated effectively. We need to achieve long-term results and aspire for effective business. We need to implement our proposals through pilot programs, and we believe we will see results by the end of next year,” Deputy Minister of Economy Artak Kamalyan stated, thanked the UNFAO and stressed that the latter has provided support since the very first day the problem was raised.

“The aim of today’s workshop is to introduce the program to the key beneficiaries who will play their role in the introduction of a new legal framework for land management,” UNFAO Land Management Officer Morten Hartvigsen stated.

Based on the previously conducted analysis, the UNFAO has offered a conceptual framework for the sector-specific policy and the legal and institutional actions. A new institution, that is, the Land Agency, will be set up to establish and implement the land policy and regulate the lands market.

During the workshop, the Ministry of Economy of Armenia and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization signed a cooperation agreement.