A visit to the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the second stream of the educational programme aimed at transferring budget knowledge to young specialists and CSO/Media representatives as well as developing their budgeting capacity was organized on 11 April 2025, within the scope of the “Budgets for Citizens” project. The visit was aimed to study the budget programmes of Agricultural Sector, which is one of the target sectors of the B4C project, together with the representatives of the implementing body, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia.

The participants met with Ms Gayane Atoyan, Head of the Finance and Accounting Department, Ms Ira Panosyan, Head of the Agricultural Programs Elaboration Department, Mr. Arayik Aramyan, Head of the Agrօ-processing, Department, and Ms Varsik Martirosyan, Head of the  Plant Breeding, Department at the RA Ministry of Economy.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ms Gayane Atoyan, Head of the Finance and Accounting Department of the Ministry, welcomed the attendees and wished them an effective and constructive dialogue. Ms Syuzanna Soghomonyan, representative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association briefly presented to the representatives of the Ministry the main goals of the project, target objectives, components and expected results of this meeting.

Further Ms Gayane Atoyan presented to the participants the 2026-2028 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) of the Ministry of Economy, the new programmes and measures to be introduced in 2026, as well as the programmes and measures to be implemented in the Agriculture Sector in 2025.

During the meeting, representatives of the Ministry referred to the main priorities and measures in the agricultural sector envisaged in the upcoming budget, as well as the expected outcomes from each of them. Further, the young specialists and CSO/Media representatives asked questions that, in their opinion, were the most problematic in the agricultural sector.

The ASUE student Miss Zhaneta Vardanyan, a participant of the second stream of the educational programme aimed at transferring budget knowledge was interested in the reasons for the significant increase in funding for the “Rehabilitation and Development of Rural Infrastructure” programme. In response, representatives of the Ministry explained that the increase was due to the launch of the internationally funded programme.

The ASUE student Miss Anna Badalyan, a participant of the second stream of the educational programme aimed at transferring budget knowledge asked about the future programmes aimed at modernization of agricultural products and bringing them into line with the requirements of international markets. Representatives of the Ministry noted that Agricultural Modernization Programmes are aimed at increasing productivity and competitiveness, as well as promoting exports.

At the end of the meeting, the representatives of the Ministry expressed hope that from now on the civil society will be more participatory in the formation of the agricultural sector budget. They expressed their appreciation for the interest in the sector and the discussion of important issues.

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).