On July 19, Ashot Hovakimian, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, received the delegation headed by Paola Severino, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Corruption.

Deputy Minister welcomed the first visit of the representative of the OSCE Italian Chairmanship to Armenia, highly valuing the cooperation between Armenia and the OSCE Chairmanship with regards the OSCE agenda issues.

Deputy Minister highlighted the importance of Professor Severino’s initiative to visit Armenia, which speaks of Italy’s appreciation of Armenia’s achievements in the fight against corruption, as well as shows that the Italian side is ready to assist Armenia in further steps taken in that direction.

Hovakimian noted that the fight against corruption is among the priorities of the new government of Armenia. He presented the achievements in that direction and the international cooperation of Armenia in the field of combating corruption within the framework of the UN and the OSCE.

Both sides highlighted the role of education in forming the culture of intolerance towards corruption.

The Deputy Minister underlined that corruption is a threat both to the states and to international security. In that context, he expressed his concern over the cases of corruption registered in some international organizations.