YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today held a meeting with the members of the Corruption Prevention Commission led by Commission Chair Haykuhi Harutyunyan. The meeting was also attended by justice minister Rustam Badasyan, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.

Welcoming the Commission members, the PM delivered remarks at the meeting:

“Dear compatriots, I am happy to meet with you. It’s less than a year that the Corruption Prevention Commission has been formed in Armenia, and understandably it has a conceptual significance for our country because you know that the government’s program includes the vision of having a corruption-free public, and this is very important for our country’s future development.

Of course, today one of the key issues of Armenia’s agenda is the fight against corruption, but from strategic terms it’s important that we have concrete mechanisms for preventing corruption, rather than to just have a fight against corruption, meaning that either corruption should be impossible in Armenia in terms of respective mechanisms, or it should be at the lowest level in order not to exist in the agenda as a public issue in general, of course with the existence of future fight mechanisms, when each corruption case will not remain without a discovery.

The purpose of our meeting today is to understand how the works of the Commission are taking place, what actions the government needs to take because it has many functions in terms of ensuring the normal operation of the Commission. And I hope that we will manage to solve all problems within a short period of time, which are enshrined in the Anti-Corruption Strategy. In fact, this document is a document of our joint action. Today we will also hear where we have reached in terms of implementation of this Strategy which relates to the Corruption Prevention Commission”.

The Commission Chair thanked the PM for the meeting and introduced Commission members Lilit Aleksanyan, Aramayis Pashinyan and Narek Hambardzumyan. She said the Commission is operating over 8 months and presented the actions taken during this period.

The Prime Minister and the Commission representatives exchanged views on the anti-corruption fight agenda. Issues relating to the prevention of corruption, discovery of corruption crimes, anti-corruption education were discussed during the meeting.

“The government’s political will to succeed in the fight against corruption and prevent it is beyond doubt. In this respect we should set the highest bar and continue the works”, PM Pashinyan said, highlighting the consistent implementation of measures envisaged by the Anti-Corruption Strategy.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan