AmCham Legal Committee 1st Meeting

DateMarch 18, 2021
Event categoryAdvocacy
VenueArmenia Marriott Hotel Yerevan
On 18 March 2021 AmCham held its Legal Committee 1st Meeting.
The Chair of the Meeting welcomed the Legal Committee enrolled Members and thanked them for their interest in the committee. The Chair also welcomed the AmCham President Mr. Ashot Hovanesian for participating in the meeting.
AmCham Executive Director Ms. Karine Sarkissian introduced the Members and AmCham Committees Policy Rules Procedures and Quick Set-up Guide, AmCham Legal Committee Mission and Objectives – inclusion of IPR in the Committee objectives.
The Meeting Chair got the confirmation of the members to include the IPR in the Legal Committee objectives, as it is more relevant to the Legal Committee focus area.
It was also thoroughly discussed and agreed that the objective of the Committee will be to actively review and discuss the legislative changes and draft laws, also prepare recommendations, and write papers on the issues/problems which impact the business environment. The Committee should act pro-actively, rather than act as a fight fighter, and needs to have adequate time and resources to review and come up with constructive solutions. The Committee should be actively partnered and engaged with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance, the Parliament Standing Committees, etc. and work on the issues to improve the business environment. Also, the Committee needs to be very careful and try to overcome the resistance of the government and act as a partner. The Government usually has its Agenda and the Committee needs to try to insert the issues into the government Agenda and be on the Government priority list of issues.
The Committee also needs to work with International donors such as USAID, EU, etc. in order to use the available financial and other resources and be part of their ongoing and ad-hoc projects.
It was agreed that AmCham Executive Body will be facilitating all the administrative works, including organizing internal and external meetings related to the Committee operations and prepare minutes, run surveys, etc. whereas the Committee members will need to handle the content.
In order to come up with the Legal Committee mission and objectives document, Mr. Ara Khzmalyan recommended running a survey among the members and identify the problems to focus on in the short and in the long-run. Mr. Ara Khzmalyan volunteered to prepare a Survey Document and send it to the Executive Team to run the survey asap.
Legal Committee Chair and Co-Chair election
The Meeting Chair proposed Ms. Lusine Mnatsakanyan, Country Legal Manager, Coca-Cola HBC Armenia for the Chair of the Committee. She kindly agreed to be nominated and gave a short speech stressing that she realizes the importance of the Legal Committee as the right platform for the public and private sector dialogue and facilitation for a better business environment.
The Meeting requested to run an open Voting. The Meeting unanimously voted and elected Ms. Lusine Mnatsakanyan as the Chair of the Legal Committee.
It was proposed to nominate Mr. Hayk Malkhasyan, ADWISE Business & Legal Consulting for the position of Co-Chair, given his experience and expertise and knowing the system from the inside out.
The Meeting unanimously voted and elected Mr. Hayk Malkhasyan, ADWISE Business & Legal Consulting as the Co-Chair of the Legal Committee.
The Chair informed that Mr. Varoujan Avedikian, Managing Partner, TK&Partners has kindly agreed to be the representative of the AmCham Board on the AmCham Legal Committee.
Legelata Law Firm’s legislative initiative to the Ministry of Health regarding the vaccination process of employees was circulated to the participants for recommendation and discussion.
NEXT STEPS:
• Legal Committee Members will review the Legelata Law Firm legislative initiative to the Ministry of Health regarding the vaccination process of employees and come up with an opinion by 26 March.
• Mr. Ara Khzmalyan prepares a Survey Document by 24 March 2021 and sends it to the Executive Team.
• The AmCham Executive Team runs the survey by 7 April and summarizes the Survey results by 9 April
• Next Committee Meeting 13 April 2021