The first meeting of the Public Council in the full composition of the working consultation conducted by Vazgen Manukyan took place.

First, the members of the Council discussed issues related to the Charter, the activities of the Public Council, the powers and functions of the members of the Public Council. The importance of the objectives, strategies, clarification of the vision of the Public Council has been enhanced to ensure the effectiveness of the further activities of the body.

Further the members of the council discussed the draft anti-corruption strategy of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, an extensive discussion of which was held at the Committee of State and Legal Affairs of the Public Council. Mr. Karen Zadoyan, Chairman of the Committee, member of the Public Council, presented to the Council the content of the draft and proposals developed by the Committee.

The importance of attaching close attention to the project, the need to thoroughly review the draft, as well as the need to strictly control and balance the fight against corruption was underlined.

The members of the Council also touched upon the proposed amendments to the RA Law on Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Law on “The Structure and Functioning of the Government” in connection with liquidation of a number of ministries and reorganization of their functions.

Members of the Council considered negligence the fact that until now the draft amendments have not been presented to the public, whereas there is a great response on the issues and the need for wide public debate. The Public Council considers that the RA Government should have had serious arguments and in-depth analyzes, which is also missing.

There was an opinion that serious personnel changes have taken place in the transition period, when a new government and a new parliament have been formed, and that it would be right to avoid such drastic changes that may cause shocks in the management system. It was also noted that before making such structural changes, the Armenian government should first of all put concrete tasks for the field before introducing the draft of amendments to the society.

Nevertheless, regardless of the issues raised, the members of the PC considered it incomprehensible, for example, incorporation of the cultural sector in the sectors of science and education or reserve the functions of the Ministry of Diaspora to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a number of PC committees the matter was discussed in December last year. The chairpersons of the committees also presented the results of those discussions to the Council.

The Public Council has decided to convene a special session on the issue and conduct a comprehensive discussion of the draft proposed by the Government of Armenia in advance.

The first working meeting of the newly formed Public Council ended after two hours of exciting and thorough discussions.