Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation Peter Eriksson will visit Armenia on 21-22 March.
Ahead of his visit the Swedish government has announced that it intends to increase its financial support to Armenia, in response to the strong political will to undertake necessary reforms, following the “velvet revolution” of 2018, Sweden’s embassy in Armenia said in a statement.
“An active democratization process has started in Armenia after the ‘velvet revolution’ and the shift of power during 2018. We see a strong political will to undertake necessary reforms and to strengthen democracy, freedom of expression and other fundamental rights and freedoms,” Eriksson wrote in an article published in “Dagens Nyheter” newspaper.
“The fact that the number of women in the newly elected National Assembly has increased is one of the many signs of progressive movement towards change in the country. Therefore, this is the right moment for Sweden to increase its support and contribute to the positive developments in Armenia.”
The opening of a bilateral program for Sweden’s development cooperation with Armenia will mean increased funding for projects in Armenia and make the Swedish support to Armenia more targeted.
Sweden supports several regional projects that benefit Armenia and a small number of bilateral projects. This includes important initiatives aimed at strengthening environmental protection and policy, political and economic empowerment of women and building democratic, resilient and well-functioning public institutions. These sectors will continue to remain important.
