Armenia continues economic reform process for tree trade zone creation

PanARMENIAN.Net - Quality control was another topic of discussion during the past week. Armenian Deputy Minister of Economy Mushegh Tumasyan said that the quality control system needs to be improved in Armenia to comply with international standards. “This opinion is supported not only by international experts and relative commissions. We do understand it,” Tumasyan told a briefing prior to public discussions of the project on amendment of the Armenian quality control system.

According to the Deputy Minister, a precondition was set on reformation of the system during the process of European integration, including an important stage of economic integration, which in its turn envisages trade integration. “We need to protect consumers’ rights in our country and have a safe production at the internal market to start negotiations on free trade with EU. Besides, we need to export Armenian products to European countries. That is why we have initiated the reforms,” he said. The Deputy Minister noted that reforms will be implemented in three basic directions: standardization and accreditation; technical regulations and market control; test, control checks and certification.

For his part, Armenian Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsyan noted that “the EU is a strongly controlled market requiring high standards, and our companies face difficulties in complying with them.” “The reforms are aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Armenia’s economy and increasing the country’s export potential,” he noted.

Yerevan also hosted a workshop on Armenian Public Financial Management Reforms, which focused on public financial management reform agenda and various reform priorities. Among those is Public Internal Financial Control (PIFC), which is an integral part of the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan concluded between the Republic of Armenia and the European Commission in 2006.

In his opening remarks, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that the program of reforms should be implemented in Armenia within 10 years. “We summarized the results of the first stage of reforms during the previous meeting. Now, we should define the second stage of reforms, as well as our strategy and basic tasks,” the Prime Minister said.

Head of the European Commission Delegation to Armenia Raul de Luzenberger, in turn, said that reasonable public financial management will reduce corruption and increase the efficiency of funds distribution.