Yerevan/Mediamax/. Armenia improved its position in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Annual Index. 

Armenia was the 105th against 129th position last year, Mediamax reports.

Mediamax notes that the joint Document of the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy in Armenia in 2011 issued in May 2011 read that corruption remained a serious problem in Armenia.
 
“Transparency International ranks Armenia in 129th place out of 183 (score 2.6 out of 10) in its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2011. The authorities have regularly and publicly expressed their readiness to fight corruption. However, despite the adoption of certain important legal acts (e.g. the law on Procurement, and law on Public Service), fulfilment of obligations from the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), OECD and other international bodies, as well as the increased number of arrests and indictments of corrupt officials, there have been no positive changes in the perception of corruption by different segments of the Armenian population and the government’s measures have not been sufficient to change it. What is lacking is effective implementation. The anti-corruption coordinating mechanism created in 2004 is weak. No institutional support or resources have been allocated to anti-corruption work by the government. In May, the National Assembly adopted the law on Public Service. Starting from 2012, declarations on income and property will be submitted only by high-ranking public officials, as well as persons related to them. This law has several shortcomings regarding the capacity and powers of the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Public Officials”, the document read.