The two-day seminar was organized by the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and an NGO Ecoglobe within the framework of the EU funded Programme “Greening Economies in the Eastern Neighbourhood” (EaP GREEN). The aim of the seminar is to assist the Republic of Armenia with implementation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in compliance with the provisions of the SEA Protocol to the Espoo Convention and relevant EU Directives.

The objectives of the seminar were:                                                                      

-          to raise awareness about the recent development of the national legislation related to the environmental assessment in Armenia

-          to clarify roles of various stakeholders in the SEA process

-          to facilitate debate about practical steps and arrangements for application of SEA

-          to facilitate debate about the scope of application of SEA (possible approaches to SEA screening)

-          to identify needs for further development of SEA-relevant legislation

-          to identify opportunities for conducting a pilot SEA in Armenia

In order to allow for addressing the above objectives, particular attention is paid to the establishment of common understanding not only on the very concept of SEA, but also on the system of strategic planning in Armenia. Therefore, sections presenting the national system of strategic planning and examples from individual sectorial ministries planning processes are important part of the seminar agenda. Thus, the seminar shall facilitate an informed debate among the national experts representing potential stakeholders in SEA processes.

The event gathered up to 30 participants from sectorial ministries, in particular those responsible for economics, industry, agriculture and health, as well as representatives of donor agencies/International Financial Institutions, civil society, practitioners, planners, and environmental authorities.