On December 17-18, 2021 FOICA and Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) organized “Empowering the Private Sector to Combat Disinformation” online training sessions for 24 representatives of 16 private companies.

During the first session IT and media expert Artur Papyan and participants studied issues related to media literacy and disinformation and their impact on the business, as well as got acquainted with fact-checking tools.

A special part of session was dedicated to regulations of beneficial ownership transparency. The new regulations of the company’s beneficial ownership declaration provide new obligations for the private sector, the violation of which may lead to administrative and criminal liability. Thus, the training was aimed at answering possible questions related to this problem and raising awareness about this field. The head of Agency for State Register of Legal Entities Tatevik Mkrtchyan and Beneficial ownership (BO) expert Ani Varderesyan answered the questions related to the topic.

During the sessions the communication expert Nvard Melkonyan presented the business representatives the features of combating disinformation in the context of public relations, as well as cooperation between private companies and advertisers.