On 2 April, 2025, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia hosted a visit organized within the framework of the “Budgets for Citizens” Programme, with participants of the second stream of the budget training program for young specialists and CSOs/media organizations. Ms Ruzanna Gabrielyan, Head of Budget Process Coordination Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia received the guests.

Ruzanna Gabrielyan welcomed the participants of the programme, emphasizing the key role of the active involvement of CSOs in the budget applications discussion process. She particularly emphasized the need to involve experienced young specialists in this field as a guarantee of future development.

Ms Syuzanna Soghomonyan, he representative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association Ms Syuzanna Soghomonyan, presented the objectives of the visit and spoke about the work already carried out in the budget sector. She expressed her gratitude to the Ministry for being a stable partner of the programme.

In the first part of the meeting, the participants got acquainted with the budget process of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia, macroeconomic and fiscal objectives, and discussed the role of fiscal policy in economic development and general principles of the budget system as well.

A question and answer session was organized n the second part of the meeting,, during which the participants had the opportunity to discuss issues of interest to them with the representative of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia. The questions mainly concerned the reserve funds, budget consolidation, state debt, and etc. For example, Yura Martirosyan a student ASUE, participant in the budget training program for young specialists, was interested in the scenarios envisaged in the event of a possible discrepancy between the growth of state debt and the rates of economic growth. In response to his question, the representative of the Ministry noted that the RA Ministry of Finance has a special toolkit for this issue, including a separate unit that monitors such risks applying international methodology. It was also noted that the relevant tools are clearly defined in the MTEF Debt Management Strategy.

At the end of the meeting, the representative of the Ministry reaffirmed the importance of the program and welcomed the active participation of youth and civil society in the budget processes. Participants were especially encouraged to engage in ongoing public discussions and bring their valuable and unique contribution to these important processes.