Armenia - Achievements
The European Commission’s Progress report Armenia states that Armenia has demonstrated a strong commitment towards the implementation of the ENP Action Plan, despite some initial delays caused by Parliamentary elections in May 2007 and internal coordination issues.
Good progress has been achieved in particular in the areas of judiciary reform, the administration of elections and the Ombudsman institution. Of key importance for 2008 is the proper implementation of recently adopted legislation.
In order to improve integrated border management at the national and regional level, a project on regional border management in South Caucasus (2008-2009) was launched in October 2007. Participating countries agreed to implement measures on a bilateral basis (Armenia-Georgia, Azerbaijan-Georgia).
Armenia has managed well on the macro-economic side with a strong growth in 2007 at a rate of 13.7% (double-digit for the sixth consecutive year). The business climate has been further improved, although at slower pace than in earlier years. More efforts are needed to improve the customs administration.
Further progress was made in 2007 in reducing poverty - the proportion of the population living under the poverty line has continued to decline steadily to 29% in 2007 and the share of extreme poverty is now down to 6.5% of the population. A very successful food security programme (€100 million over 10 years) is currently ongoing to support the government’s poverty reduction efforts by providing budgetary support and technical assistance for key land and agricultural reform, public finance management and social sector reform.
