On August 15th, the Corporate Governance Center, within the framework of the Business Integrity Club, organized the “Board’s Role in Ensuring the Implementation of the Corporate Governance Code” business breakfast.

The event was prompted by the adoption of the new RA Corporate Governance Code by the Minister of Economy on July 30th.

Natalia Otel Belan, Regional Director for Europe and Eurasia at CIPE, addressed welcome remarks to the participants. She emphasized the necessity of corporate governance in developing open and fair market relations, as well as reinforcing accountable and transparent business practices. She highlighted the importance of the board, particularly independent board members, in implementing corporate governance principles and proposed creating a registry of independent board members in Armenia.

Narine Melikyan, Director of the Corporate Governance Center and Coordinator of the Business Integrity Club Secretariat, initiated the discussion by introducing the key changes in the Code.

The participants expressed their agreement on the collective efforts needed to ensure that the Code finds its rightful place within Armenia’s corporate governance framework and fulfills its intended goals. As recommendations, they highlighted developing a strategy for implementing the Code, key performance indicators, coverage and awareness-raising campaigns, including the preparation of guidelines, explanatory materials, and organizing training sessions for various stakeholders. The participants particularly emphasized the importance of implementing support and encouragement, including state mechanisms, among companies, and through the development of their capacities creating success stories and “champions” whose experiences could serve as valuable lessons for other members of the business community.

Furthermore, the participants noted that targeted awareness-raising and advisory support measures could create conditions to prevent companies from merely simulating the application of the Code’s principles and instead ensure their conscious adoption.

The Breakfast was attended by economic officials from the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, CIPE, CLDP, the RA Ministry of Economy, international organizations and programs, as well as board and executive team members of Armenian and foreign companies.

The event was organized within the framework of the “EURASIA REGIONAL: Promoting Inclusive and Ethical Business Leadership” project, supported by the Center for International Private Enterprise.