Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

The Government of Armenia approved The second program of action in the framework of the Open Government Partnership during the Cabinet setting held on 31 of July, 2014. Continuing its efforts to ensure the effectiveness of the governance system, from late 2013, the Government of the Republic of Armenia initiated the OGP's second Action Plan (hereinafter the Plan) development process. The Plan was developed on the basis of the fundamental principles of the OGP initiative, as well as lessons learned from the OGP-Armenia first Action plan. The Plan was drawn up based on the recommendations of both the Government and the civil society, including areas such as mining, health, education, local self-government, freedom of information, etc.

Every commitment included in the Plan is a target and is selected as a result of comprehensive discussions. The project's draft version was developed based on the recommendations submitted by state agencies. Consequently, in order to obtain civil society feedback and to raise public awareness, the draft was made available at www.ogp.am web page. In parallel, on several occasions it was discussed during the relevant working group sessions (in particular, on 9 September 2013, 26 November 2013).

To move on with public discussions, on 5-6 April 2014 in Aghveran, the RA Government jointly with the "Freedom of Information Center" NGO and by the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Program organized a seminar “OGP-Armenia: Transparency and Accountability. Partnership between the Government and the civil society”. During the event, both the draft Plan and the new proposals submitted by state agencies and non-governmental organizations were discussed.

At the same time, to include new proposals in the Plan and to ensure public awareness, “Asparez” (Arena) Journalists’ Club of Gyumri has organized a series of meetings, as a result of which a number of NGOs also submitted recommendations to the RA Government. For consideration and further clarification of the above mentioned recommendations, on 5 June 2014 a working meeting with representatives of state agencies and civil society was organized at the Staff of the Government. The final draft was discussed and approved during the working group session on 15 July 2014 based on the Decision of the Prime Minister No 656 of 15 July 2014.

The final public discussion of the Plan was held on 18 July 2014 in Yerevan in the scope of the event organized jointly by the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the "Freedom of Information Center" NGO with the financial support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. The workshop, besides the members of above-mentioned working group, was also attended by several civil society and international organization representatives.

The proposals not complying with the OGP values and format are not included in the in the Plan. The proposals requiring development and adoption of new draft laws, as well as making amendments to the existing laws have not been included in the Plan as well, as the laws of the Republic of Armenia are adopted by the RA National Assembly, and the Government cannot guarantee the adoption thereof. Despite that fact, the Government of the Republic of Armenia has expressed its readiness to discuss with the civil society the possible mechanisms of implementation of the proposals not included in the plan beyond the OGP initiative.

OGP Second Action Plan of the Republic of Armenia (2014-2016)