The reforms in the migration management system of Armenia have become one of the main directions of Armenia-EU cooperation recently. A number of extensive and crucial projects have been implemented in this area during the last years.

In 2007-2009 among such projects a critical role has played the EU sponsored project “Support to Migration Policy Development and Relevant Capacity Building in Armenia” implemented by the International Center for Human Development (ICHD) in cooperation with the Migration Agency at the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration (MA MTA) and British Council Armenia. The main results, achievements and lessons learned have been wrapped up at the final conference on 19 February 2010.

The ICHD’s Executive Director Tevan Poghosyan mentioned in his opening remark. “The project has had a number of sustainable achievements. I believe these achievements can be attributed to close cooperation between the stakeholders in the government and civil society. Particularly, within the framework of the project Migrants’ Support Union has been created, which operates currently under the state budget funding and has provided its services to around 1700 migrants in 3 years.

Under the project the official web-site www.backtoarmenia.com was created, which is a very effective way of communication between the Armenian migrants living abroad and the Armenian authorities. A number of drafts of legislative acts, as well as the draft of the Concept of the RA on Strategy of the State Regulation of Migration for 2001-2014 have been elaborated. The latter has been officially circulated by the Working Group on Migration issues adjoined to the National Security Council of Armenia”.

In this respect during the conference the Secretary of the National Security Council of Armenia Arthur Baghdasaryan stated, that the working group created by intergovernmental commission which coordinates the cooperation of Armenian and European institutes is working efficiently and added. “We hope that in the nearest future these works will be finished and we will have a comprehensive document that will enable us to solve migration problems. Solving these issues is important both from the viewpoint of the security and the right management of migration flows and risks”.

The head of the European Commission’s delegation in Armenia Raul de Lutzenberger mentioned that the facilitation of the visa regimes between Armenia and EU countries is an important issue. However, Armenia still has to implement reforms and approximate its legislation to European standards. Particularly, the policy making and its implementation according to European standards will enable making vital steps in the direction of defense of the rights and interests of Armenian citizens living in the EU.

The participants of the conference attached importance to the continuity of the further development of the migration management system in Armenia.