On October 13-15 the seminar “EU-Armenia: The Present and Perspectives” was held in Kapan (Syunik region). The event was organized by Yerevan Press Club with the assistance of Friedrich Ebert Foundation and was the third one dealing with EU-Armenia relations. The other two seminars took place in December 2009 in Aghveran and in May 2010 in Gyumri (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 14-21, 2010 and May 28 – June 3, 2010). The seminar of Kapan was attended by representatives of media, NGOs and journalistic associations.
The report of Stepan Grigorian, Head of Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation, dealt with the political significance of the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative. Independent Expert Vahagn Ghazarian presented the perspectives of EU-Armenia economical cooperation in terms of EaP Free Trade Agreement. Gevorg Ter-Gabrielian, Country Director of Eurasia Partnership Foundation, told about the importance of anti-corruption programs in frames of EaP. The report of YPC President Boris Navasardian was on the role of civil society in implementing the Eastern Partnership programme. YPC Expert Heriknaz Harutiunian talked about the coverage of European Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Partnership by Armenian media. The research was administered by YPC in March-July 2010 and involved 15 print media. In his report David Tumanian, Vice-President of the Association of Community Financiers, touched upon the challenges in reforming the local self-government institutions in the light of EU-Armenia cooperation.
