On May 15, 2021, the Acting RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan visited Gyumri to take part in “The future is in Gyumri” event, during which the opening ceremony of the new office of “Digital Pomegranate” company was planned, as well as the launching ceremony of the latter’s biggest project “Distrikt” took place.

The vision of “Digital Pomegranate” company is to turn Gyumri into a leading community focused on creative, technological, prosperous, and sustainable economic development. Within the project framework, it is planned to establish the first of its kind residential district in Gyumri - a business ecosystem with unique technologies, which will stimulate innovation, ensure the district residents’ adequate and sustainable living, and will have a positive socio-economic and environmental impact.

During the event, Vahan Kerobyan attended the opening ceremony of the company’s new office, got acquainted with the company’s activities and the details of establishing the planned eco and techno “Distrikt”.

Welcoming the launch of such a large project, Vahan Kerobyan noted: “I believe in the concept that Gyumri can become a wonderful place to live, work, and create. Everyone knows the people of Gyumri are talented, creative people, and I see my mission in transferring that power and energy to people, so that they can create and exercise their talent as well as possible”.

Vahan Kerobyan also stressed his readiness to support the successful implementation of the project.

The director of the Distrikt Foundation Gayane Arakelyan noted that one of the project’s important goals is to stop the outflow and migration of talented people from Gyumri. “If people have here a beautiful environment, which is accessible, dynamically developing, economically stable, and, of course, creative, then they will not want to leave this city”.

According to the co-founder of “Digital Pomegranate” Todd Fabacher, this initiative will provide an opportunity to create new jobs for young workforce and leading professionals. According to him, it will not only create an ecological and technological environment, but will also correspond to the UN’s sustainable development goals.

“In other words, there will be a peculiar district in our region, an inimitable place, where the UN’s all 17 sustainable development goals will have their unique manifestation. With our ideas we will try to achieve these goals so that the whole world becomes interested in coming, seeing, investing, setting up enterprises, developing staff, creating good workforce, and keeping those people in our region”, said Todd Fabacher.

All those initiatives that will be implemented within the framework of this project will be aimed at proper implementation of five goals: “Prosperous city”, “Green city”, “Integrated city”, “Creative city”, and “Technology city”.

The area selected for the project is located in the western part of Gyumri, adjacent to the districts of Bulvarayin and Mush, 10 minutes from the city center, close to the touristic sites of the Black Fortress, Paytadzev Fortress, and Mother Armenia complex.

The Armenian-Chinese center “Digital Silk Road” and the latest start-up companies established in Gyumri will be located here to offer jobs to local youth, increase their purchasing power, and generate taxes, thus greatly contributing to the city’s economic growth.

In addition, a light industry zone, agricultural sector, green zone, residential sector, service facilities, solar panel garden, arts and sports sector, small guesthouses will be located here.

The “Distrikt” project is being developed and will be implemented jointly with Gyumri Municipality and state authorities, contributing to development of cooperation between private and public infrastructures in Armenia. According to the preliminary plan, the project will be implemented in three stages: the first phase will last three years envisaging an investment of about 20 million US dollars. The budget and timeline for the next stages are under discussion and can be clearly defined upon completion of study.

“Digital Pomegranate” company was founded in 2013. It is a software development company based in New York and Gyumri developing mobile applications and websites.

Within a few years of its operation, the company has grown from a small team to a fully developing, globally competitive IT company. Currently the company provides services of creating and developing web, Cloud Server, IoT and mobile applications, thus turning Gyumri into a city exporting state-of-the-art technologies.