IC Armenia Gala Dinner - from Reforms to Impact

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Council Meetings

Legislative reforms are effective when they are based on cooperation, dialogue and trust between the public and private sectors, including those actors who are affected by their process. This simple truth is the basis for the SME Development Public-Private Dialogue Platform, established by the Prime Minister’s decision and operating under the leadership of the Deputy Prime Minister. The platform involves, on the one hand, 11 associations representing the private sector, and on the other hand, ministers and deputy ministers representing the state sector. The Expert Technical Assistance to the platform is provided by the team of the Investment Council of Armenia (IC Armenia), formed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Each month, the 11 members present legislative issues collected from business and vote on a list of priority issues to be discussed. This is followed by the work of the IC Armenia expert team. In the first stage, the team conducts a meeting-discussion with the stakeholders of the business association who have presented the legislative issue. Next, a focus group consisting of similar businesses is formed, within the framework of which the relevant provisions and proposals are analyzed. Based on international best practices and analysis of the collected data, the IC Armenia team develops a draft of legislative amendments and presents it to the private sector representatives of the SME Development Dialogue Platform, as well as to the tax and legal working groups operating under the platform, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia.

In the next stage, the draft is presented to the monthly SME Sub-Council meeting, chaired by the Minister of Economy, which is also attended by the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee, and representatives of other ministries, depending on the nature of the issue. After discussing the draft with the public sector, the Ministry of Economy puts it into official circulation. After collecting opinions from ministries on the draft, it is presented to the SME Council meeting, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister. In this format: the problem is sent from the business to the association, from the association to the SME Dialogue Platform, from the Platform to the IC Armenia expert team, and then to a meeting of the SME Sub-Council headed by the Minister of Economy and a meeting of the SME Council headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, and is resolved. Over the past two years, 28 sub-council sessions have been held within the framework of the SME Public-Private Dialogue Platform, headed by the Minister of Economy, 8 sessions headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, 42 issues have been discussed, 18 reforms have been adopted, and 12 reforms are in various stages of adoption. The Gala Dinner gathered representatives of the private sector, public sector and donor community to celebrate those achievements together and get the aspirations of doing even more in the year of 2025.