This from the American Chamber of Commerce:

Yerevan. A Roundtable, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (`AmCham’), took place on March 23rd 2004 in the Queen Erato Room of the Armenia Marriott Hotel.

The idea of organizing this roundtable was born at the Business Ethics workshop held on July 30th, 2003, which was attended by many participants from the private and public sectors and international organizations. There was a very positive response from the participants and as a result a working group was formed from those who were interested in further actions directed towards this mission.

Thus, in order to continue the discussion and to determine the possibilities of promoting Business Ethics principles in Armenia, AmCham organised this Roundtable. It was run by Lusine Janoyan, Second Vice-President of AmCham, who is a Business Ethics trainee and participant in the program on Business Ethics and Good Governance, organized by the US State Department of Commerce.

Lusine Janoyan welcomed the participants to the Round Table, inviting them to work together, set up a committee and decide on future actions. She asked participants to give their ideas on how to put Business Ethics into practice. Following very active discussion, participants set up a committee of four people, with Lusine Janoyan as chairperson, which would develop and define future activities for the group.

Participants agreed on the following short and long term plans:

a. To develop a universal Code of Business Ethics.
b. To create a library dedicated to the subject.
c. To cooperate with professional associations and NGOs.
d. To organise Business Ethics lectures at universities and other educational institutions. e. To create an online website linked with AmCham.

Lusine closed the Round Table with a few words of thanks. The next meeting of the working committee is scheduled for next week.

AmCham in Armenia is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the business environment. It has sponsored many conferences and workshops, all of which have been successful and well attended.

For further information contact `amcham@arminco.com’ or visit our web-site www.amcham.am where more information about our activities will be found, including information on Business Ethics.