On May 29-June 1, 2023, in the framework of “Support to Decentralisation and Local Self-Government Reforms in Armenia” DeaLoG Project, the Armenian Delegation, comprised of High-Level officials from the Ministry of Territorial Administration (Mr. Vache Terteryan, Deputy Minister, Mr. Ashot Giloyan, Head of Department on Local Self-Governance Policy), Ministry of Finance (Mr. Arman Poghosyan, Deputy Minister), National Assembly (Mr. Vahe Ghalumyan, Chair of the Standing Committee on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment Protection), Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (Mrs. Susanna Azatyan, Head of the Division of Development and Implementation of General and Extracurricular Programs) and the Deputy Prime-Minister Mr. M. Grigoryan’s Office (Mr. Edgar Mkrtchyan, Head of Office and Mrs Viktorya Aydinyan, adviser) has visited Stockholm for a study and work visit. In the framework of the official visit 2 memorandums of understanding have been signed between the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of RA, the Ministry of Finance of RA, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) and SALAR International.
The DeaLoG is the Project of Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), implemented by its subsidiary SALAR International and aims at supporting the implementation of decentralization and local government reforms in Armenia since September 2022. The DeaLoG Project is financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) under the current Swedish strategy for reform cooperation within the Eastern European Partnership. The DeaLoG Project is also a part of Resilient Syunik Team Europe initiative, which is the joint undertaking of the European Union, the European Investment Bank and EU Member States Austria, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden, with Switzerland also joining as an external partner.
In overall, during the study and work visit the delegation has studied and exchanged on such topics as key-concepts for decentralization in practice with focus on the system of political, administrative and fiscal decentralization and division of responsibility within and between different tiers of government; the role and place of Swedish local governments in the overall public administration and service provision; the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Governments in practice; trust, accountability and oversight within and between different tiers of government; fiscal decentralization, including the revenue sharing (particularly from PIT) and equalization system; the benefits of municipalities having a strong fiscal base and disposable revenues; evidence-based policy formulation and planning in key-areas relevant for decentralization, etc. The Armenian delegation has visited also Swedish municipality being able to get familiar on a practice with fiscal aspects of decentralization, wide scope of functions of municipality, as well as system of school management on a local level, including also school financing models.