The Permanent Council for the Strategy on Public Governance Reforms today held its first session chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, who delivered a speech in which he particularly said the following:

“Dear colleagues,

I am glad to welcome you to the first session of the Permanent Council for the Strategy on Public Governance Reforms of the Republic of Armenia.

It is safe to stress the existence of an inefficient system of and mechanisms for public governance as one of the main in-depth reasons why the time had come for the velvet revolution that took place in 2018.  It is not by chance that the incumbent authorities and government have always declared that the in-depth reforms in public governance will be the key component of the policy agenda.

Today, it is more than clear that the public is more attentive towards state policies and the adopted decisions and has a bigger opportunity to be demanding.

Consequently, we are entering an extremely important stage of democratization that will go on to become radicalized as a value system. The past one-and-a-half years were enough to have a comprehensive understanding of the fact that there is no alternative to in-depth modernization of the public governance system.

Today we are heralding the official launch of the development of a comprehensive and substantial strategy, the objective of which is to revalue the public administration system. The main goal is to transform the values, institutions and processes of the public administration system in such a way that citizen-centered public governance is ensured.

By saying reforms in the public governance system, in essence, we are dealing with several key directions that lay the foundation for building relations between the State and society, including development and implementation of policies, including public finance management; provision of state services; the system of state services; the optimal institutional structure and the rules of accountability and integrity.

Moreover, the Strategy will include five levels: development of policies, public service and human resources management, provision of state services, accountability and integrity and scope of functions of public governance.

At all levels, digitization and the development of human capacities will play a major role. As a result of the reforms, state policies will cease to be sectorial. The government will be held accountable for not just processes, but concrete results.

It is initially clear that, like the philosophy of any reform, the process of reforms in public governance will also be with the logic of positive destruction. However, as a result, we need to have a system that will help make changes and lead the way.

We are going to face many difficult decisions during the development and implementation of the Strategy. In this sense, the political authorities have the willingness and necessary will to reach the milestone that has been initially set, as was promised during the election campaign.

Taking into consideration the importance and volume of this process, wide public participation and a proper awareness-raising campaign will be ensured throughout the processes of development and implementation.

I am certain that the Council, with such a representation and composition, will honorably spearhead the development of the Strategy. I wish all of us success in the accomplishment of this important mission.”