On December 15, Responsible mining policy forum took place at the Ani Grand Hotel in Yerevan organized by the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center within the framework of the USAID-supported "Engaged Citizenry for Responsible Governance" project.

TIAC Executive Director Sona Ayvazyan made an opening speech at the event, presenting the large-scale work done in the field of mining in cooperation with partner organizations namely AUA Center for Responsible Mining, Investigative Journalists, Ecolur Information NGO, Center for Community mobilization and support.

The event was attended by Hovhannes Harutyunyan, the RA Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure and Julie Pekowski, the USAID Acting Program Officer.

During the event, the public supervision tools developed by TIAC and partner organizations to promote transparent, accountable mining were presented to the public. Field experts also held discussions on the rights of the affected communities and community members.

Through discussions, presentations, with the participation of mining policy makers and other stakeholders, key issues of mining in Armenia were discussed hence offering proposals for solving the raised issues. TIAC and partner organizations are hopeful that the proposals discussed will be included in the current mining strategy.