Do you face obstacles in business development? Report it through the “bizpotect.am” platform, also anonymously. Identity of information holder will remain confidential, and the authenticity of the information will be examined and tackled within a short time. In order to get the highest level privacy protection, applications are submitted in the TOR Web Browser, which conceals the applicant’s IP address and codes the data.
Today, presentation of the “BizProtect” (www.bizprotect.am) online platform took place. This website for business environment reform, and corruption risks and crime detection has been created in the scope of “Evidence-based Advocacy for Reform” Project, which is implemented by the Union of Information Technology Enterprises together with the ”Armenian Lawyers’ Association” non-governmental organization and the European Business Association.
Mr. Stanislav Toshkov, Programme Manager – Private Sector Development and Trade Cooperation Section of Delegation of the European Union to Armenia in his welcoming speech highlighted the importance of private sector participation in public discussions aimed at improving the business environment. And the EU is supporting these organizations in this respect.
Ms Eva Maria Näher, Team Leader, Private Sector Development South Caucasus Support to SME Development in Armenia (EU-SMEDA), noted the importance of consolidation of business representatives and said that “bizpotect.am” is a good opportunity to unite these subjects.
“Bizprotect.am gives state bodies the opportunity to get signals from business representatives about the results of their business activities, and these signals are important for improving their work,” Mr. Karen Zadoyan, the President of the Armenian lawyers’ Association noted in his speech. He also added that as a result of joint efforts of civil society organizations and the government as well as in the framework of serious anti-corruption reforms the whistleblowers’ institute was introduced last year.
“Bizprotect.am is a good tool, but it is just an instrument that will be effective if business representatives benefit from it”, Mr. Karen Vardanyan, Executive Director of Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) said.
Ms, Diana Sarumova, President of the European Business Association and Miss Mariam Zadoyan, Lawyer of the Armenian lawyers’ Association presented the activities and results of the project.
Mariam Babayan, Advisor for SME Framework Development and Business Associations Private Sector Development South Caucasus, Support to SME Development in Armenia delivered a welcoming speech as well and presented the movie dedicated to “BizProtect” online platform.
In the second part of the event, representatives of the state bodies and businesses asked questions about the functioning of the site and discussed a number of issues.
The “Evidence-based Advocacy for Reform” Project is implemented in the frameworks of “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (SMEDA) project. (SMEDA) project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme. SMEDA is part of the EU4Business and EU4Innovation initiatives of the European Union.
