Wednesday, 6 May 2009
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan traveled to Gyumri, Shirak marz on a working visit. The Prime Minister got acquainted with the development of Mush and Ani residential districts in Gyumri, followed by a consultative meeting which was attended by NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutunyan, RA Minister of Territorial Administration, Vice-Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan, marz governors, representatives from the RA ministries and agencies concerned.
The meeting has discussed issues concerning construction activities in the disaster zone, cooperation between Armenian marzes and he administrative units of the NKR. Concerning the first item, RA Deputy Minister of Urban Development, Chief Architect Narek Sargsyan reported that 22 blocks of flats or 1320 flats will be built by this end-of-year with 900 residential houses to be completed in Lori and Spitak. Chairman of Glendale Hills Board of Directors Edward Melikyan informed that about 300 jobs have been created with 90 to 100 thousand dram average wages. The number of newly created jobs may rise to 1500 with fully realized activities.
Satisfied at the pace of building activities, the Prime Minister called attention on pricing factors in order make them accessible to needy households.
Concerning the next item, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration Artashes Bakhshyan reported on the efforts towards furthering cooperation between RA marzes and the administrative units of the NKR. He said that late in 2008 and early this year visits were reciprocated by official delegations to share know-how and expertise. Specific activities were carried out in the field of agriculture, environmental protection, health care, education, culture and other areas.
NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutunyan thanked the leadership and marz governors of Armenia for badly needed cooperation and assistance. With reference to future programs, Ara Harutunyan stressed the need for promoting the cooperation between schools, higher educational institutions with a gradual passage towards the fields of tourism and entrepreneurship.
In turn, RA Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan thanked the NKR leadership for cooperation and understanding. He made a point of the mutual visits and continued cooperation.
Summarizing the meeting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said to be pleased with the work done so far. At the same time, he pointed out a number of problems, important from the perspective of the anti-crisis program. Tigran Sargsyan made a point of organizing the population’s summer holidays in Armenia and in the NKR and told the marz governors and proposed to the Prime Minister of the NKR to provide information on the possibilities for promoting tourism at home.
The Prime Minister also instructed marz governors to come up with grape harvest estimates for their marzes. Tigran Sargsyan mentioned the problem of welfare benefits, highlighted by the President of Armenia during a working visit to Syunik marz. Tigran Sargsyan ordered marz governors to keep an eye on the problem, rule out irregularities and finalize the list of recipients so as benefits reach the right destination.
