Thursday, 14 October 2010
Dear ARU-member women,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Guests,
I warmly congratulate you on the centenary of the Armenian Relief Union.
I feel highly excited now as more than 300 hundred Armenian women representative of over twenty foreign countries have joined the Motherland to celebrate the jubilee of their renowned organization. I feel honored to congratulate you on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
Founded in New York as early as in 1910, the ARU brings together 15,000 volunteers from over twenty countries of the world.
Few are women’s organizations of such a broad humanitarian coverage in the world. Our nation’s modern history knows no such heavens where the ARU has not been involved.
Many thousands of women are rallied round a key idea in any part of the globe from North America to Australia, from Europe to Latin America and the Middle East.
That idea is the service of Homeland and our needy compatriots which seems to be the noblest mission in the world. This very mission is reflected in the universal watchword of the organization: “With my people and for my people.”
I am convinced that ARU is a unique model of the Armenian world. Moreover, it is one of very first and important establishments of this world. Its activities are a proof to the existence of a comprehensive, multifaceted and viable Armenian world where development and creativity are getting a new dimension amid a constantly shrinking world in the 21st century.
It is not but in the Armenian world that we can preserve and strengthen our identity, as well as to triumph in the race of the nations and civilizations relying on the Armenian world. This has no alternatives. The lessons of past and ongoing realities testify to it.
The past century was a period of hopes and disappointments, great victories and heavy losses for the Armenian people. The Armenian world incorporates two Armenian States developing and getting ever stronger, with independence and freedom turning into an irreversible reality for our nation. Great is the ARU’s contribution to this cause. In 2011 we will be marking the 20th anniversary of ARU-Armenia cooperation. The organization was registered in Armenia as early as in 1991. Currently the Union has some 1000 representatives in 57 urban and rural settlements of our country. It is my pleasure to state that the projects carried out by the ARU in Armenia, Artsakh and Javakhk stand out by their utmost efficiency and accountability.
Both the Government and the ARU are concentrating today on educational and healthcare programs. I would like to assure you that we appreciate your cooperation with the State and stand ready to continue doing joint work as we have a common goal of assisting the vulnerable groups.
Dear attendees, I had a thought as I was preparing for my speech: what is the key to ARU’s success and longevity Each of you knows the answer. To my mind, it is the strong national bias of the organization, your dedication and solid organizational capacity, as well as your well-pronounced sense of duty, handed down from generation to generation. At the same time, it has well to do with your infinite kindness, care for the children, the elderly and the sick.
This care and warmth revived our people’s hopes in the sandy hell of Der-Zor and during the freedom fight of Artsakh. This care seeks to keep up our nation’s identity and originality.
Conveying deep appreciation and a vote of thanks for your thoughtfulness and loyalty to our all-national goals, I hereby wish all the best and every success to each of you in your patriotic undertakings.
Thank you.
