Republican Party of Armenia

 On September 27 - the International Information Freedom Day - Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan attended the 11th edition of Information Freedom Center-hosted Golden Key and Rusty Lock annual award-giving ceremony in Yerevan.

“Our meeting is traditional for the Government of Armenia is supportive of your initiative. Together with civil society organizations we closely follow the state of affairs as to the accessibility of information for our citizens. The modern world creates opportunities to provide information and an exceptional opportunity for our citizens to monitor the government. This means that the government should be open and transparent in their activities, and society has the right to analyze information in search of answers to the questions in spotlight,” Tigran Sargsyan said.

The Prime Minister assured that the government will do everything to promote public initiatives like that since they are crucial to the formation of civil society in Armenia.

“On the other hand, it is important to orientate NGOs so that they feel responsible for the future of our country in their capacity of information providers as they shape public opinion and fundamental values. The relationship between the State and society takes place through information, which means that the latter must be objective and impartial,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

The Government Staff was awarded a special prize for effective organization of work for the implementation of the Action Plan for Armenia’s participation in Open Government Partnership initiative.

Thankful for the prize, Minister-Chief of Government Staff Vache Gabrielyan advised that the Armenian Government is scheduled to attend a UK-hosted OGP conference later this year. “It is a consistent policy carried out under the leadership of the Prime Minister,” Vache Gabrielyan stressed.

A special prize was also awarded to the Ministry of Diaspora for timely and full responses to the largest number of electronic freedom of information requests in 2013.

The positive prize, the Golden Key, that symbolizes the open and public work was awarded to the Ministry of Finance of Armenia as a State administration body to have applied in the best way the Armenian law on freedom of information, www.e-register.am, the electronic system of Justice Ministry’s Legal Entities State Registry - as the best official information providing website, Transparency International anti-corruption center - as a social organization making best use of the right to information, panorama.am online outlet - as a means of information having actively covered the issue of freedom of information, judge of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash district Araik Melkumian - as a judge having restored the citizens’ violated right to freedom of information, human rights activist Artak Zeynalyanu - as a lawyer persistently and consistently fighting for the right to freedom of information.

The negative symbol of the contest – the Rusty Lock - as a symbol of closed-door policy was awarded to the Yerevan City Hall as the slowest agency to respond to citizens’ information requests, as well as the National Assembly as the worst State body in terms of abiding by the Republic of Armenia law on freedom of information.

The prize of the most curious official answer in 2013 went to the Ministry of Urban Development, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia, as well as to Parking City Service CJSC.

The results of the competition were determined by an independent jury composed of the representatives of 8 NGOs operating in the given field.