Introduction of the building integrity concept in the ARM Ministry of Defence and the international experience

20 November, 2013 00:00
On November 19, seminar discussion titled ``Introduction of building integrity concept in the ARM Ministry of Defence and the international experience`` took place in the ARM MoD administrative building in the framework of annual NATO Week in Armenia held from November 18 to 22.

The seminar was attended by ambassadors and representatives of NATO member countries in Armenia, the Head and the Political Military Officer at OSCE office in Yerevan, delegates from NATO International Staff, international and local experts. Opening remarks were made by the ARM Deputy Defence Minister A.Nazaryan, ARM Deputy Foreign Minister A.Hovakimyan, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of UK J. Aves, Ms. B.Borel from NATO Political Affairs and Security Policy Division and W. Lahue NATO Liaison Officer in the South Caucasus. In the first part of the seminar participants discussed Armenia`s perspective on the building integrity initiative and efforts and approaches taken on these matters by the ARM MoD. In his speech, the representative of the OSCE Office in Yerevan presented main guidelines of cooperation transparency and accountability raising with the ARM MoD and drew parallels between the building integrity initiative and the OSCE Code of Conduct. The representative of the ARM Ministry of Justice Law Institute briefed the seminar participants on trainings for state and special civil servants held at the institute, main approaches for raising awareness on anti-corruption strategies and the academic literature developed by the Institute. The second part of the seminar focused on discussion of the international experience in building integrity. The Advanced experience of building integrity self-assessment procedures already accomplished in Serbia, Bulgaria, Norway and Latvia were and NATO`s common approaches were introduced. At the end of the seminar, Deputy Defence Minister A. Nazaryan and NATO`s representatives positively valued outcomes of the seminar. In particular, similar opportunities of experience exchange to help the MoD in its policies to study best practices, build integrity and fight corruption were hightly evaluated, and the participants emphasized the necessity to strengthen ties on the expert level.