The Agreement on Political Cooperation was signed at the Presidential Palace

Today, at the Presidential Palace the Republican Party of Armenia and Armenian Revolutionary Federation signed the Agreement on Political Cooperation. On behalf of the Republican Party of Armenia it was signed by the Vice-Chair of the ARP Armen Ashotyan and on behalf of the ARF it was signed by the representative of the Supreme Body of the ARF Aghvan Vardanian.

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Yerevan, 24 February 2016

Agreement on Political Cooperation

1. General Provisions

The Republican Party of Armenia and Armenian Revolutionary Federation

- Based on the exigency to prevail over the internal and external challenges facing the Republic of Armenia by coalescing potential of the two Parties,
- Determined to ensure a speedy advancement of the country and improvement of the moral and psychological atmosphere and with the objective of strengthening the security and democratic stability of the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh,
- Considering the opportunities provided by the amendments introduced to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and commitment to constitutionalize social life,
- Guided by the approaches enshrined in the Declaration on the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
- Based on the approaches conveyed in the Statement of the President of Armenia on February 12, 2016 as well as based on the community of priorities of the Republican Party of Armenia and Armenian Revolutionary Federation regarding the political agenda of Armenia,
- assuming jointly responsibility for the implementation of the programs of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, sign this Agreement on Political Cooperation in the name of sovereign, democratic, social and law-governed state.

II. Strategic areas of political cooperation

1. To implement urgent steps stemming from the amendments to the Constitution of RA adopted as a result of the December 6, 2015 referendum,
1.1. In the social and political area,
1.1.1. To continue to improve the human rights and freedoms upholding structure, ensuring the full exercise of the principle of inviolability of human dignity and supremacy of law.
1.1.2. To guarantee the organization and conduct of free, trustworthy elections and referenda through the new electoral laws and the new Law on Referendum, application of the constitutional norms of direct democracy.
1.1.3. To ensure the enhanced atmosphere of competition, tolerance and cooperation among the political forces, strengthened multiparty system and development of internal democracy, provide for the equal legal opportunities for the functioning of Parties through a new law on Political Parties.
1.1.4. To enhance legal guarantees for the functioning of independent and unbiased judicial structure through new judicial laws and a new law on Constitutional Court.
1.1.5. To ensure efficient work of the legislative body through a new law in the Charter of the National Assembly, providing for the balancing-counterbalancing political function of the opposition.
1.1.6. To review the administrative division of the Republic of Armenia and establish responsible and efficient regional governance and local self-governance structures which will ensure sustainable development.
1.1.7. To raised the efficiency level of the state governance and local self-governance bodies and use of public funds, accountability, and responsibility.
1.1.8. To ensure full implementation of the constitutional principle of the legal limitations on public authority and the uninterrupted functioning of the procedure-institution-authority-responsibility chain.
1.1.9. To employ a comprehensive structure on the disclosure of possible cases on the clash of interests, their prevention, on unavoidability of punishment for illegal activities, on the separation of business and social power.
1.1.10. To form with the active participation of the civil society and opposition an efficient structure on the fight against corruption. To review based on laws functions of the Ethics Commission for senior officials, its authority and responsibility.
1.1.11. To conduct personnel policy based on professionalism and in accordance with the standards of public trust, to continuously involve young people in the state governance process.
1.1.12. To continue to improve the work of the administrative bodies, including measures and procedures regarding the mechanisms for the exaction of mandatory fines and fees, in case of necessity to implement additional legal regulation, especially through the united and consistent implementation of laws to ensure in practice the proportionality of administration, decent administration, including the constitutional rights to be heard when it comes to restrictions on basic constitutional rights, including in the context of the inviolability of basic rights and freedoms and principle of distinctness.

1.2. In the social and economic area,

1.2.1. The economic policy should have a social market orientation. To continue through the structural changes to diversity and raise the level of competitiveness of the Armenian economy.
1.2.2. To make joint efforts for the efficient realization of the main goals of the state envisaged by the Article 86 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia amended in 2015.
1.2.3. To raise the quality and efficiency of governance of the state property and public goods, the level of property rights and protection of investments.
1.2.4. To carry out effective antimonopoly policy and ensure in practice free entrepreneurship, economic activity, and competition.
1.2.5. To promote savings, attraction of investments, creation of jobs, implement programs aimed at the equal development of the regions, to review the tax policy.
1.2.6. To raise the level of Dram use in the economy, in agriculture, small and medium enterprises through the structural means to reduce the dependency on expensive and foreign currency based credits, to make a transition from social agriculture to industrial agriculture.
1.2.7. To anchor the policy pertinent to the areas of improving job conditions, social insurance and health care in the decent existence of the individual, reduction of poverty, corporative social responsibility, concurrent functioning of the state mandatory and voluntary insurance structures.
1.2.8. To continuously raise the quality of education system, self-governance of the higher education establishments, level of academic and research freedom, to develop fundamental and applied sciences, to strengthen the link between the labor market and system of education, to make high quality education services Armenia’s competitive advantage in the region.
1.2.9. Through practical steps to raise the level of women’s participation in all areas of state life, to ensure factual equality between men and women.
1.2.10. To continue to work towards the preservation of the national cultural heritage and its internalization and development of arts.
2. To ensure the increase of population through the active demographic policy, implementation of multicenter and symmetric development programs.
3. To develop and enforce security structures of the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Nagorno Karabakh.
4. To continue to take steps to raise Armenia’s international repute while strengthening the Armenian statehood, to deepen the involvement and increase the role of the Armenian Spyurk in the preservation of the Armenian identity and organization of expatriation.

III. The procedure of establishing political cooperation

1. The political cooperation field encompasses all areas of internal and external life of the state.
2. The parties to the political cooperation are guided by the approaches of mutual respect, mutual understanding, tolerance, resolution of differences through negotiations and discussions, with full awareness regarding a comprehensive responsibility in the actions of the public authority bodies and state officials.
3. The parties to the political cooperation pledge,
3.1. To conduct discussions regarding conceptual and strategic programs in the areas of cooperation in order to work out a unified position.
3.2. To make joint efforts to enhance the level of state governance and increase public trust towards it, including decisions pertinent to the government structure, its functioning and personnel policy.
3.3. At the proposal of one of the parties to this agreement to conduct discussion on any issue related to the activities of the National Assembly or Government.
3.4. To insure in the framework of cooperation implementation of the reached agreements at different levels and sections of power.
4. To provide for the efficiency of the works within the framework of political cooperation, to ensure regular inter-party contacts and collation of positions to create a cooperation council. The Council will carry out its works through sessions which shall be convened on a regular basis.
5. Differences in the positions of the cooperation parties shall be solved through consultations. Based on mutual agreement, the viewpoints of the parties regarding the results of the consultations can be published and commented on. In case of irreconcilable differences each Party after informing the other Party in writing, can discontinue political cooperation.

Armen Ashotyan
Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Armenia

Aghvan Vardanian
Representative of the ARF Supreme Body