Dafina Gercheva: “UN does not have any direct engagement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process”

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS: Dafina Gercheva handed February 5 to the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan the official letter of the UN Secretary General on her appointment as UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia. Below is the exclusive interview of Mrs. Gercheva to Armenpress news agency.

Ms. Gercheva, since its independence Armenia cooperates with the UN. During these years lots of programs have been implemented in different directions. How do you assess Armenia-UN collaboration, as well as the steps undertaken by Armenia for reaching the Millennium Development goals?

The UN has a presence in Armenia since 1992 and the Office’s successful partnership with the Government of Armenia and other national counterparts is well acknowledged by the authorities of the country. During my recent meeting with H.E. Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia, he stressed that Armenia adheres to the UN values and attaches high importance to the UN activities in Armenia. The leader of the country also acknowledged UN’s contribution towards accelerating human development in Armenia since its independence and called for further cooperation in overcoming the existing challenges in the country.

The UN-Armenia partnership is regulated through the UN Development Assistance Framework - a five-year programme document signed with the Government of Armenia - which outlines the main areas of UN activities in the country, in line with national priorities. The first UNADF cycle (2005-2009) was completed last year and I am delighted to note that the UN system successfully accomplished all of the results envisaged in partnership with international and national partners, as outlined in the framework document. Let me highlight only few of them:

Through community based food-for-work activities, temporary employment to 6,000 people in poor rural communities was provided resulting in the repair and rehabilitation of 2,000 km of irrigation and drinking water systems, 150 schools and kindergartens, 25 drinking water reservoirs.

Twelve income-generating programmes were developed and introduced in 8 rural communities, resulting in 30% increase of the income of 1,025 households.

Hundred SMEs were created with introduction of equity financing, secondary leasing and loan guarantee schemes.

Anti-corruption monitoring methodology was developed and introduced in health and education sectors, as well as pre-school education was included in the Sustainable Development Programme of the Government of Armenia and the National Strategy for Education Development 2008-2015.

The UN family in Armenia actively contributed to the adoption of many legislative initiatives and national strategies, such as the Anti-Trafficking and Rural Development Strategies, National Plan of Action for the Protection of Children’s Rights, Second National Communication to the UNFCCC, concept on gender policy, the law “On Asylum and Refugees,” etc.

Armenia is among the 189 countries which have adopted the UN Millennium Declaration at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were nationalized to correspond to the country-specific priorities of poverty reduction and human development reflected in the main development policies and strategies of the country. The first nationalized MDG Status Report published in 2005 established the nationalized MDG framework for Armenia and tracked the status and the progress in achieving the nationalized MDGs in the country.

Soon UNDP will launch the MDG second progress report, which assesses the main trends and the current state of progress in achieving the MDGs, taking into consideration the impact of global economic and financial crisis. Unfortunately, it is obvious that, due to the crisis and its rather serious impact on the Armenian economy, the country has to adjust the initial estimates towards achievement of nationalized MGDs.

In Your opinion, which is the most important sphere to activate the collaboration? During your tenure what kind of projects are you going to carry out in Armenia?

As already mentioned, the implementation of the second UNDAF (2010-2015) will commence this year and the UN, together with national counterparts, will further mobilize efforts to achieve the MDGs. The Office will provide rapid response to the crisis, in particular, in the areas of social protection and employment generation trying to improve quality, accessibility and affordability of health care, education and other social services. The UN in Armenia will further support the implementation of the ambitions reform agenda and application of EU standards across the three branches of power. We will, in close partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration, focus our efforts towards reduction of regional disparities, as well as enhance citizen participation and promote confidence building, tolerance and social inclusion. In environmental sector, our projects will be aimed towards promotion of energy efficiency, and strengthening capacities for disaster risk reduction.

In his speech about the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated that the process is the beginning of establishment of good-neighborly relations between the two countries and to develop bilateral collaboration. How do you assess that process?

The signing of the protocols on normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, as stated, was welcomed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The UN acknowledges that “this historic decision constitutes a milestone toward the establishment of good neighborly relations and the development of bilateral cooperation between both countries.” We hope that both protocols will be swiftly ratified by the Parliaments of Armenia and Turkey to ensure full normalization of their bilateral relations, thus, leading to long-term peace, security, stability and socio-economic prosperity in the region. The establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of borders between Armenia and Turkey will open new venues for businesses, and new transportation and communication routes will positively impact on trade-economic activities between the two countries.

In your opinion, which is the right way of regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

As stated recently by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UN does not have any direct engagement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, where the OSCE Minsk Group is in the forefront of the process.