The newspaper "Joghovurd" reports that the state paid around $630,000 for seminars for members of the ruling party (with some exceptions for the opposition) in Dilijan and Tsakhkadzor. This money was allocated to the UN Development Program (UNDP) under a 2024 funding agreement, under which the staff of the National Assembly of Armenia is obliged to allocate 240,600,000 drams to UNDP.
The payment schedule indicates that 120,300,000 drams will be paid on December 25, 2025, and December 25, 2026. The newspaper "Joghovurd" tried to clarify what this money was transferred for, what results the program should achieve, and how justified these state expenses are.
David Arakelyan, the head of the National Assembly staff, stated that the basis for the financial transfer is an agreement signed on May 7, 2024, concerning the program "Enhancing the Response Capacities, Effectiveness, Transparency, and Inclusiveness of the National Assembly of Armenia". The total budget of the program is approximately $3.19 million.
The aim of the program is to support the development of parliamentary capacities through training, expertise, and consulting. However, the official description of UNDP shows that the program aims to raise institutional capacities of the parliament, improve communication with the public, strengthen parliamentary oversight, support the legislative process, and increase public trust in the parliament.
The response from the National Assembly regarding the competitive procedure clarified that UNDP is the sole implementer of the program, hence no competition was held.
The National Assembly staff noted that all justifications for the necessity of the expenses are presented in the law on the "State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2026". However, the budget documents do not specify how much each service costs for the 240.6 million drams.
The effectiveness of the program is reportedly immeasurable, as members of parliament have effectively gone on vacation to resort towns funded by UN and state resources, where they participated in some training sessions.
