On March 26, 2021, the 2nd annual conference “Tavush’s development strategy for 2021-2025: innovation and the role of donor organizations” tool place.

The conference was attended by representatives of the RA state institutions, the EU Delegation to Armenia, the United Nations, the United States Agency for International Development, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), local and international donor organizations, embassies, non-governmental and other organizations.

The RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan participated in the event and delivered a welcome speech. He thanked the Governor of Tavush and his team for organizing such a conference, noting that the event is a valuable initiative and it shall become “contagious” for all Marzes to organize such events in all Marzes of Armenia.

“We must try to consolidate all forces for our recovery. Of course, the Republic of Armenia is grateful to all organizations, countries, embassies that have contributed to the development of Armenia. Everyone knows how collaborative our government is with all international organizations, and we try to make our cooperation with international organizations as effective as possible, so that ordinary people feel a significant difference in their lives. This is what this conference is obviously aimed at: as a result of cooperation with you our joint efforts, the efforts of the Marz and communities should be aimed at improving people’s lives. The Government has a number of programs aimed at improving the investment climate, strengthening the economic activity in rural communities, and developing communities in general. There are quite efficiently operating subsidy programs, and this year we are already launching sub-investment programs, which means the Government will start working directly with small and medium-sized enterprises to allow them a better access to finances and knowledge, resulting in a situation when for ordinary people the lack of finances will not be the biggest obstacle for doing business, an insurmountable obstacle, which means we will allow people to quickly implement their business ideas”, said the Minister.

“On my behalf, and on behalf of the Ministry and the Government, I want to say we are very open and ready to discuss any initiative aimed at improving the people’s lives in Armenia”, the Minister added, wishing the participants an effective day and fruitful work.

The conference was welcomed online by the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Victorin, the UN Resident Coordinator Shombi Sharp and others.

During the conference, the draft provincial development strategy for 2021-2025 was presented to the organizations operating in Tavush Marz for joint discussion and exchange of views. The new database and electronic map of the programs implemented by donor organizations in Tavush were also presented.

This year the programs will exceed the index of 2020 by 32%. An investment of 44 billion Armenian drams is envisaged. The priorities are agriculture, tourism, and industry.

The conference was organized on the initiative of the Tavush Governor Hayk Chobanyan.