On 10 March, 2023, the second meeting of the EU-Armenia Civil Society Platform established under the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was held in Yerevan.

Ms Lousineh Hakobyan, and Mr. Ionut Sibian, the Platform’s Co-Chairs welcomed the participants in their opening remarks

Mr. Ara Margaryan, Head of the European Department of the Armenian MFA, Mr David Cullen, Head of Unit – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Eastern Partnership Coordination from DG NEAR, Ms Dorotha Dlouchy-Suliga, Head of Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus Division of the European External Action Service gave their assessments of CEPA implementation in Armenia.

Ms Lousineh Hakobyan, the Platform’s Co-Chair, as well as the Platform members Gagik Makaryan, President of The Republican Union of Employers of Armenia (RUEA), and Ms. Anna Barikyan Vice-President of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia, presented the steps taken by the Platform in performing their function of monitoring CEPA implementation by the Armenian authorities.

During the meeting, there was also a discussion entitled “The impact of the security challenges faced by Armenia on the CEPA implementation”, in which, among others, Ms. Andrea Wiktorin, Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, and Mr. Paruyr Hovhannisyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, as well as Mr.Mikayel Hovhannisyan, representative of Eurasia Partnership Foundation, participated.

Marat Atovmyan, a member of the EU-Armenia Civil Society Platform, who was elected as a representative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, also participated in the meeting. He asked Ms Andrea Wiktorin, Ambassador, and Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, how the European Union delegation coordinates the process of providing funds in Armenia by the European Union embassies, taking into account that civil society organizations recently complained about the transparency of that process.

At the end of the meeting, the EU-Armenia Civil Society Platform adopted a declaration.

Photo from the page of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia.