On 27 September 2019, the Annual Working Meeting of Secretaries General of Parliaments of the Eastern Partnership countries was held in Yerevan. The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff - Secretary General of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Mr Tigran Galstyan, the Secretary General of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr Givi Mikanadze and the Deputy Secretary General of the Parliament of Moldova, Mr Igor Klipii. The Country Director for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Office in Armenia, Ms Anne Kempa was also complementarily present at the meeting.

 

The Meeting was dedicated to the annual evaluation of the progress made within the one-year existence of the Network of Secretaries General of Parliament of the Eastern Partnership Countries and regional cooperation in the framework of the Tbilisi Memorandum. The Secretary General of the Parliament of Georgia and the Chairman of the Network of Secretaries General of Parliament of the Eastern Partnership Countries, Mr Givi Mikanadze presented the Annual Report of the Tbilisi Memorandum Cooperation between the Parliamentary Administrations of the Eastern Partnership Countries.

 

The attending parties were updated about the planned activities of the Network, which have been negotiated with international partners within the tenure of the Georgian Chairmanship of the Network and are to be implemented by the end of the year 2019. Further details were provided for the upcoming meetings with the Secretaries General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, the Swedish Riksdag in Stockholm and the European Parliament in Brussels. Mr  Mikanadze delivered on the successful negotiations with the Open World Leadership Center to facilitate the visit of Secretaries General of Parliaments of the Eastern Partnership countries to the United States of America via the Open World Program, in the framework of which Secretaries General would visit the US Congress and have meeting with the American colleagues on a federal and state levels.

 

In the framework of the meeting, the recently developed website for the Network of Secretaries General of Parliament of the Eastern Partnership Countries was presented and the Guidelines for Facilitating Cooperation under the TBILISI Memorandum was adopted by the joint decision of the Secretaries General.

 

The Meeting was concluded with the election of the new Chairing Country of the Network in favor for the Staff of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. Mr Galstyan, as a new Chairman of the Network addressed the parties and talked about the major directions for cooperation under his chairmanship. The Armenian Chairmanship of the Network of Secretaries General of Parliament of the Eastern Partnership Countries will last for the period of 1 October 2019 – 1 October 2020.