The “Corporate Governance in State-Owned Enterprises” workshop was held on December 19-20, 2024. It was organized by the Corporate Governance Center, the Center for International Private Enterprise, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Program, the Asian Development Bank and the Corruption Prevention Commission.
The event was attended by representatives from Armenian state-owned enterprises, state bodies, civil society and the expert community.
The workshop aimed to serve as a platform for participants to become familiar with best practices in corporate governance, analyze issues and challenges related to corporate governance in Armenian state-owned enterprises, and provide an opportunity to implement more modern, transparent, and accountable governance models in these companies, aligned with current economic challenges and public expectations.
Leading experts in the field served as speakers, including Gregorio Belaunde, Independent Consultant at the Asian Development Bank; Talisa Zur Hausen, Policy Analyst at the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs; Ekaterina Lysova, Program Director at CIPE Anti-Corruption and Governance Center; and Hagen Schweinitz, Global Practice Leader of Board and Governance Advisory Practice at Eric Salmon & Partners. They discussed the following topics:
• Good governance of state-owned enterprises: potential benefits for companies, society, and the state.
• OECD guidelines on corporate governance of state-owned enterprises (2024).
• Business integrity in state-owned enterprises.
• The role of the board and board members in state-owned enterprises.
During the workshop, Tatev Asryan, Head of the Commission’s Methodological Support Department, discussed business integrity and managing corruption risks in state-owned enterprises, presenting international standards and the main tools for managing corruption risks in the sector.
On the second day of the workshop, Narine Melikyan, Director of the Corporate Governance Center, presented the results of the research “Corporate Governance in State-Owned Enterprises,” conducted with the support of the CIPE. She analyzed the general landscape of corporate governance in Armenia’s state-owned enterprises.
The workshop concluded with a panel discussion, focusing on the role of the board of directors in state-owned enterprises and the need for independent members to be included on the board.
