Today, on April 26, 2024, the Prosecutor General’s Office jointly with the European Union launched the two-day high-level conference “Strengthening the Effectiveness of International Cooperation in Fighting Transnational Organised Crime”.

The purpose of the conference is to discuss the European standards of prosecutors' functions in the fight against corruption, economic and financial crimes, promoting international cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime.

The high-level conference has been organised within the framework of the European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Partnership for Good Governance”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe, under the projects "Support to the Justice Reform in Armenia" and "Enhancing National Capacities for Effective Prevention and Fight against Economic Crime in Armenia".

The conference was attended by Mrs. Anna Vardapetyan, Prosecutor General of Armenia, Mrs. Lilit Daneghian, Deputy Head of Co-operation Programmes Division, Council of Europe, H.E. Mr. Vassilis Maragos, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia, Mr. Maxime Longangué, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan, Mr. Vladimir Vardanyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly of Armenia, Mr.  Arthur Davtyan President of the Anti-Corruption Chamber of the RA Court of Cassation, Ms.  Anahit Manasyan, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Argishti Kyaramyan, Chairman of the RA Investigative Committee, Mr. Sasun Khachatryan, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Rustam Badasyan, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Levon Balyan, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia, Mrs Nida Grunskienė, Prosecutor General of Lithuania, Mrs. Jana Zezulova, Deputy Department Director, Head of Legislative Section President of CCPE, delegations from Romania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, representatives of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as heads of accredited diplomatic missions in the Republic of Armenia, representatives of other Armenian state bodies.

In her welcome speech, Anna Vardapetyan, Prosecutor General of Armenia, particularly noted: “Just ten months ago, on July 1, 2023, on the 105th anniversary of the establishment of the Prosecutor's Office and the Day of the employee of the Prosecutor's Office, jointly with the European Union and the Council of Europe, we organized a high-level conference “Prosecutorial Independence in Upholding the Rule of Law”. When summarizing the results, there was a clear desire to develop cooperation with European partners in similar format, to organize a new high-level conference with a more comprehensive geography. Today we are launching the two-day international conference on “Strengthening the Effectiveness of International Cooperation in Fighting Transnational Organised Crime”. This initiative has also been implemented in close cooperation with partners from the European Union and the Council of Europe. With this regard I would like to welcome representatives from ten European countries and international organizations and emphasize that the cooperation of the Prosecutor's Office of Armenia with the EU and the Council of Europe has deep-rooted traditions and has entered a qualitatively new stage of development in the recent years. “I am confident that the event launching today will set a new, higher bar for professional dialogue, and will become an effective platform for sharing knowledge about international cooperation in combating transnational organized crime, as well as the experiences and challenges of our countries in the fields of confiscating of illegally acquired property”,- noted Anna Vardapetyan, wishing everyone a productive discussion.

Lilit Daneghyan, , Deputy Head of the Co-operation Programmes Division of the Council of Europe, welcomed the participants of the conference in the context of continuing last year started tradition within the framework of that conference and expressed her gratitude to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Armenia, in particular Anna Vardapetyan, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, for effective interaction and active cooperation.

H.E. Mr. Vasilis Maragos, Head of the EU delegation in Armenia, highlighted the importance of the high-level conference on international cooperation in fighting transnational organised crime and emphasized that cooperation based on European standards, rule of law and justice reform is a key one in the context of strengthening institutional reforms in Armenia. "The rule of law and justice reform are important for strengthening of democracy,"- said Mr. Vasilis Maragos.

Maxime Longangué, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan emphasized the importance of collaboration, highlighted the accomplishments already achieved, underscoring their significance in laying the groundwork for future endeavours.

Within the framework of the two main thematic sessions of the conference, the strengthening of international cooperation in criminal proceedings, as well as the challenges of individual cases in that field, were addressed.