1.2. institutional framework of twinning operations in armenia - PAO

GUIDELINES ON TWINNING INSTRUMENT FOR PROGRAMME ADMINISTRATION AGENCY
taking into consideration other projects either planned or under implementation, for
example projects funded by other donors.
- A last criterion used to assess the quality of the Twinning application gives an indication
about the degree of compliance with the reform strategy of the institution and/or Government.
The Twinning application has to be linked to the Implementation Plan of the Government of
Armenia of the ENP-Action Plan and to the reform strategy of the applicant institution.
For the requests meeting at least the eligibility criteria, the PAO will request the applicant institution
representatives to participate in a meeting at the PAO, in order to assess the degree of substantial
conformity of the proposal. The application should be revised according to the outcome of the
discussion and resubmitted to PAO.
To institutionalize the Twinning requests selection procedure PAO should use Twinning Selection
Criteria (see Annex 1). The PAO has to indicate its general appraisal of the application, before
deciding to send the request to the Twinning Project Implementation Board.
Provided that the Twinning request transmitted to the PAO is deemed satisfactory, corresponds to
the quality criteria defined by the European Commission and to the selection criteria defined here
above, the PAO, after the evaluation of requests, shall send a letter informing the applicant
institution of the inclusion of the submitted request into the preliminary list to be transmitted to the
Twinning Implementation Board. According to the Decision on PAO Functions, the PAO has to
establish an initial prioritized list of Twinning project requests to the Twinning Board.
As described in the Annex 2 of the Decision on Twinning Procedures, the Board, chaired by the
Minister of Economy, has the main goal to select and prioritize, through transparent and unbiased
discussions, the Twinning proposals to be implemented under the European Neighborhood and
Partnership Instrument.
The Board reviews and approves the prioritized list of Twinning project proposals and identifies up
to three priority project proposals to be sent to the ECD to Armenia for approval.
Role of PAO in preparatory and implementation phases of Twinning Board Session
During the preparatory and implementation phases of the Twinning Board PAO should act as a
“mediator” between BAs, in which Twinning requests will be presented at the Twinning Board
and Twinning Board members. In practical terms it means that:
� PAO provides support to BAs in preparation of presentation of relevant Twinning
Request. Special attention should be paid to the issues of eligibility of the submitted
request, commitment of the Beneficiary to implement the relevant Twinning Project, and
absorption capacity. PAO should assure that objectives and mandatory results are
clearly defined in a presentation to be done by a BA representative. This kind of support
may be provided by means of consultations with a BA representative.
� Head of PAO may have a short speech presenting the key findings of evaluation of the
Twinning request submitted by BA before/after the presentation of the request by a BA
representative.
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