Yerevan, 15 November 2017 – Today, presentation of the “BizProtect” (www.bizprotect.am) online platform took place. There were presented the opportunities, which are provided for businesses, achievements reached so far and further steps of the development of the platform. This website for business environment reform, corruption risks and crime detection has been created in the scope of “Evidence-based Advocacy for Reform” Project, which is implemented by the Union of Information Technology Enterprises together with the European Business Association and the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.
The platform helps businesses to report their issues in business development and at the same time to remain confidential. The authenticity of the information is examined and tackled within a short time. In order to get the highest level privacy protection, applications are submitted in the TOR Web Browser, which conceals the applicant’s IP address and codes the data.
During his welcoming address Mr. Stanislav Toshkov, Programme Manager – Private Sector Development and Trade Cooperation Section of Delegation of the European Union to Armenia stressed the importance of private sector participation in public discussions aimed at improving the business environment. In her turn, Ms Eva Maria Näher, Team Leader, Private Sector Development South Caucasus Support to SME Development in Armenia (EU-SMEDA), highlighted the importance of consolidation of business representatives, noting that bizpotect.am is a good opportunity to unite these stakeholders. Mr. Karen Vardanyan, Executive Director of Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) said that Bizprotect.am is a good tool, which can be effective only if business representatives use it.
Ms. Diana Sarumova, Executive Director of the European Business Association presented the work implemented by the association in the framework of the project. EBA’s Lobby & Advocacy Manager Ms. Stella Mikayelyan made the presentation regarding the legal proposals elaborated and presented by EBA during the period of the project. Miss Mariam Zadoyan, Lawyer of the Armenian lawyers’ Association presented the activities and results of the project conducted by the ALA.
According to Mr. Karen Zadoyan, the President of the Armenian lawyers’ Association, bizprotect.am also provides governmental bodies the opportunity to get signals from business representatives about the results of their business activities. which is quite important for the improvement of the work of public agencies.
Mariam Babayan, Advisor for SME Framework Development and Business Associations Private Sector Development South Caucasus, Support to SME Development in Armenia delivered a welcoming speech as well and presented the movie dedicated to “BizProtect” online platform.
In the second part of the event, representatives of the state bodies and businesses asked questions about the functioning of the site and discussed a number of issues.
The “Evidence-based Advocacy for Reform” Project is implemented in the frameworks of “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (SMEDA) project. (SMEDA) project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme. SMEDA is part of the EU4Business and EU4Innovation initiatives of the European Union.