Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a meeting to discuss issues related to fiscal decentralization aimed at increasing the efficiency of community service delivery.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Communities of Armenia, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, members of the board, Ryan Knox, Executive Director of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) subsidiary organization (SALAR international), and Elton Stafa, expert and program manager of the SALAR international subsidiary organization. The latter provide assistance in developing financial policy within the framework of decentralization reform in Armenia.

Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan noted that the fiscal decentralization agenda is part of the commitments signed under the European Charter of Local Self-Government and that SALAR international has conducted analyses on general fiscal decentralization in Armenia and presented specific recommendations.

Elton Stafa, an expert and program manager at SALAR International, presented a roadmap for developing fiscal decentralization tools to improve the efficiency of community service delivery.

First, the current challenges, existing tools, local development incentives, etc. were discussed. Then, details were presented on the reform process, which proposes gradual fiscal decentralization, improvement of the public finance management system at the local level, etc.

The participants of the meeting exchanged ideas on the combined use of local taxes and sectoral financing tools, and steps aimed at providing effective community services.

Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that strong communities are of key importance for the overall development of the country and noted that administrative-territorial reforms have created strong communities, and the proposed reforms will provide the necessary tools for the provision of quality services. In this regard, the Prime Minister highlighted the presented proposals and further steps towards their implementation.