28th of October- Alda, Association of the Local Democracy Agencies, with the support of the Congress of local and regional autorithies of the Council of Europe opened in Armenia, in Gyumri, a new Local Democracy Agency. It is the second LDA in the South Caucasus area and the thirteenth LDA (the other are in the Balkan area) opened by ALDA. With the signature of the memorandum of understanding by the partners of the LDA, officially is started the work of this important tool for the local democracy and citizen participation. The LDA’s office is hosted in a room provided by the Municipality of Gyumri in the City Hall and will be active in a month, after the nomination of the Delegate. The Armenian local authorities and the civil society have very high expectations on the contribution of the ADL to the growth of local democracy in Armenia. It has been demonstrated by the participation at the opening ceremony of a large number of citizens but also of representatives of the Armenian Government and local authorities. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, represented by Vice-President Fabio Pellegrini, strongly believes in the possibility to further the process of democratization in this country that is part of the Council. Attended to the opening ceremony, with the Mayor of Gyumri, Mr. Vardan Ghukasyan, the, First deputy minister of the RA ministry of Territorial Administration, Mr. Vache Terteryan, the President of the Union of Communities of Armenia, Mr. Emin Yeritsyan, the Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Mr. Fabio Pellegrini. Mr. Per Vinther, President of ALDA, AND Antonella Valmorbida, Director of ALDA, attended too to the ceremony. Mrs. Véronique Moreira, Vice-president of Region Rhone-Alpes responsible for development cooperation stressed the full involvement of the France Region, that will be partner leader of the LDA, by a video contribution. “The new LDA Armenia, like the others established in the past years, will be a bridge builder! It will build bridges between the various stakeholders of the community, as local authorities, civil society, and the local business and educational sectors, in order to promote democracy and respect for human and minority right”, stressed Mr Per Vinther, ALDA President. After the opening ceremony took place a conference on Cooperation between local authorities and civil society and European cooperation in Armenia, with the participation of Mrs. Armine Tukhikyan, Urban Foundation For Sustainable development (Armenia), Mrs. Raffaella Viviani, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy, Mr. Levon Barseghyan, President of the Journalists’ Club Asparez, Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, Director of ALDA and Mr. Ioseb Khakhaleishvili, Delegate and Executive Director LDA Georgia. Partners of LDA Armenia are the Rhône-Alpes Region (France), the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Italy), the International Committee For The Development of Peoples CISP (Italy), the Union of Communities of Armenia, the Urban Foundation for Sustainable Development (Armenia), the Journalists’ Club Asparez (Armenia), and the Armenian Municipalities of Gyumri, the host city, and Ijevan. The Councillor for International Relations of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Elio De Anna, stressed in a message that "The accession of the FVG Region in the LDA Armenia is in line with the strategic choices of international policy set by President Renzo Tondo, that see in the Caucasian territory an area of economic and social interest for the region. The action of the FVG, as a partner of the LDA Armenian, shall be aimed at achieving the objectives of respect for democratic values in line with what is established by the European Community. " Strasbourg/Gyumri, 28th of October 2011 ALDA Press Office About ALDA The Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) is an International non-governmental organization working actively to promote local governance and citizens’ participation as a tool for democracy and human rights. It was founded in 1999 as an initiative of the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to coordinate a network of Local Democracy Agencies (LDAs) already in existence since 1993. The LDAs are local NGOs acting to foster human rights, local democracy and the interethnic dialogue. The LDAs work on the field with a long term engagement and in a very close relationship with the local communities. Since then, other fields of activities have been developed: the strengthening of local democratic institutions and European integration in South-Eastern Europe and Caucasus, the promotion of active citizenship and citizens’ participation, the fostering of equal opportunities and young policies, the support of a sustainable economic development. ALDA’s working method is mainly based on: the decentralized and multilateral co-operation among local, national and international partners, at different levels; the fostering of partnerships, through partners’ exchange of best practices and the creation of common projects to reach common benefits; the technical assistance and training addressed to local authorities, associations and NGOs (capacity building). The ALDA network includes 30 European countries and 300 partners and members (local authorities, economic sector, associations, universities, research groups and others). ALDA performs a wide range of relationships with institutions of the Council of Europe and the European Union and it belongs to the following networks: Structured Dialogue of the European Commission Programme “Europe for Citizens”; Programme of technical support of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe; Observer at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe; Member of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe; Member of the international network “Working Together” among trainers from local authorities of the Eastern Europe; Member of the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Platform for Eastern Partnership. ALDA has recently increased its activity in the Southern Caucasus, with the opening of the new LDA Armenia and the aim to open an LDA also in Azerbaijan, and in the Mediterranean area, by means of promoting pilot projects in Algeria and Morocco.

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