On 29 July, the participants of the advanced and practical skills development phase of the training program for young professionals launched within the “Budgets for Citizens” project and the face-to-face phase of the budgetary training program for the representatives of the CSO/Mass Media, visited the RA Ministry of Finance. The visit was conducted in the scope of the “Budgets for Citizens” Project.

At the beginning of the visit, Mr. Araik Yesayan, Acting Secretary General of the RA Ministry of Finance, welcomed the young professionals and CSO/ Mass Media representatives and wished them a productive and interesting discussion. He also touched upon the questions of the participants, which led to a multi-faceted discussion..

Further, Ms Sveta Harosyan, Acting Head of the Analytical Methodology Department of the Budget Process, expressed readiness to answer the questions of the participants of the budget training program.

During the meeting, the representative of the Ministry spoke about the stages of the budget process and referred to the expected participation of the civil society in order to register mutually positive results of the budget process.

Ms Arpine Serobyan, a participant of the budget training program, Vice President of “Lusastgh” NGO, was interested in the control mechanisms that the non-governmental organizations should use in order to control the programs presented by them within the framework of participatory budgeting.

The participants raised a number of questions regarding the mechanisms of participatory budgeting, the attraction of foreign investments, as well as the financial breakdown of participatory budgeting.

At the end of the meeting, the representative of the Ministry of Finance expressed their gratitude to the participants for their willingness to be involved in the budget process, and encouraged them to participate in public discussions and make their own contribution to the process.

The “Budgets 4 Citizens” (B4C) action (8 December, 2022 – 7 December, 2026) is being implemented with the financial support of the European Union by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, in cooperation with partners “Economic Development and Research Center” (EDRC) NGO and “Agora Central Europe” NGO (Czech Republic).