Statement In Response to the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson–in-Office on Combatting Corruption, Ms. Paola Severino as delivered by Ambassador Arman Kirakossian

13 December, 2018

Statement

In Response to the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson–in-Office on

Combatting Corruption, Ms. Paola Severino

as delivered by Ambassador Arman Kirakossian, Permanent Representative of

Armenia, at the 1209th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council

December 13, 2018

Mr. Chair,

Armenia aligned itself with the statement of Austria delivered on behalf of the European Union and we would like to make additional remarks in our national capacity.

First, we would like to highly appreciate the decision of the Italian Chairmanship to establish a new mandate aimed at combatting corruption in the OSCE area. We are confident that this is an important contribution of the Italian Chairmanship to the Organization. We acknowledge the importance of Rome anti-corruption conference wherein Armenia attended at the Ministerial level.

Second, we are grateful to Special Representative Prof. Paola Severino for her attention and unwavering support towards requests of cooperation coming from participating states including Armenia. We appreciate that Armenia was one of the first destinations of the visits of the Special Representative.

Armenia fully subscribes to the view of Prof. Severino that the OSCE has a special niche in complimenting efforts of international organizations aimed at supporting states to overcome corruptive practices and build corruption-free and resilient societies.

We also agree that the mobilization of civil society is a key element of success of anticorruption strategies. The political will of the governments to fight corruption is sustainable once it is generated by strong public demand. Furthermore, as much corruption erodes society and destroys its fabric, as much anti-corruption efforts can consolidate people and build society of trust and strong ownership.

The combatting corruption was one of the main demands of the peaceful and non-violent revolutionary changes, which took place in Armenia in April-May this year. After the December 9 elections, the people of Armenia gave very strong anti-corruption mandate to the incoming Government.

We are pleased that first steps towards cooperation in this field have been already made in 2018. We appreciate the involvement of the Office of Coordinator of Economic and Environmental activities, which resulted in the submission of an extra-budgetary project on “Strengthening anti-corruption reform in Armenia”.

We are grateful to all those delegations who support our efforts and already pledged their assistance and we are looking forward to cooperate with all OSCE relevant actors particularly with Special Representative on the OSCE Chairmanship on Combatting Corruption.

In conclusion, we would like to wish every success to Prof. Severino in her future activities.

Thank you

MFA RA
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