YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. The new EU-funded “Mayors for Economic Growth” initiative was officially launched in Yerevan on April 28, reports Armenpress.

The project is expected to be carried out in 6 countries of Eastern Partnership – Armenia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine until December, 2020 with a total budget of 5 million Euro.

Peter Korsby - teach coach of the “Mayors for Economic Growth” initiative, said in addition to 5 million Euro, 9.5 million Euro is also available which will be provided for proposals. “The main beneficiaries of the program will be the local self-government bodies. The program’s main ideology is to support local-self-government bodies to be more actively involved in the local economic development. In other words, only the central government bodies must not be engaged in the country’s economic development process, however, this doesn’t mean that there must be a contradiction with what the central government does. They need to be interrelated and in accordance with each other”, he said, adding that the program will operate for 4 years.

Vache Terteryan, First Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development, said the issue has become more relevant in the situation of economic crisis of recent years.

“Communities, as subjects, will be able to find effective ways for solving their issues, as well as for intensifying the economic initiatives”, the First Deputy Minister said.