EU Twinning Project Forwarding Armenian Statistics Through Twinning

EU Twinning Project Forwarding Armenian Statistics Through Twinning Training workshop – Agricultural Census The ENPI Programme for Armenia Chkalovska, 23 -24 September 2011 Thomas Bie Resident Twinning Advisor

Cooperation in Europe – an overview • The European Union was originally founded in 1950 under the name ”European Coal and Steel Union” with the fundamental aim to secure peace in the region • After several enlargements - in 1973, 1981, 1986, 1995, 2004 and 2007 - the European Union today consists of 27 countries • The European Neighbourhood Programme (ENP) of 2004 involves 16 neighbours, including Armenia • Three aims of the ENP: – Peace and stability incl. human rights and democracy – Shared prosperity through sustainable development – Improve mutual understanding in the region

ENPI National Programme for Armenia • ENP Action Plan 2007 -2013 for Armenia was agreed upon in 2006 • Approximately worth 100 millions euro • Principial objective is to develop an increasingly close relationship between the EU and Armenia • Three strategic categories for support: – Democratic structures and good governance – Regulatory reform and administrative capacity building – Poverty reduction

The Twinning concept • An equal co-operation between partners from ENP region and EU • Transfer and exchange of best practices and methodologies • Project description (”fiche”) is worked out by the beneficiary and, if accepted by the EU, put out for tender • EU Member State (MS) institutions take part in tender, and eventually one project proposal is chosen for implementation

Twinning Project on statistics • Forwarding Armenian Statistics Through Twinning • Implementation period Jan. 2011 - Jan. 2013 • NSSRA main partner is Statistics Denmark, and all in all six MS countries are involved: Denmark, Germany, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden • Six components of the project – Quality Management, Business Statistics, National Accounts, Agricultural Census, HICP, ICT Statistics • Mandatory result for Agricultural Census – The census should be planned and brought into the field

Training workshop • Training is one very important aspect to obtain sustainable results • The involvement of regional agencies of NSS through training is all-important for a successful agricultural census • Training is exchange of information and knowledge sharing, discussions and agreement on concepts, definitions, and working methods • HAVE A GOOD AND FRUITFUL WORKSHOP!