On August 1, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan had a meeting with the participants of the Course for Leaders of Armenian Communities of the Diaspora, which was held as part of the “Diaspora” Summer School Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

The course was aimed at contributing to the functioning of Armenian community organizations, raising the level of efficiency of programs promoting preservation of the Armenian identity, introducing new procedures for self-governance, localizing the programs of the RA Ministry of Diaspora within the Armenian communities and raising the level of readiness of community leaders. The course gathered leaders and active members of Armenian communities of the USA, Canada, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia and different regions of the Russian Federation.

Greeting the participants of the course, Minister Hranush Hakobyan said it was important for the leaders of communities to organize events the right way and organize goal-oriented events, adding that this served as an essential factor for the preservation and development of the national identity and calling on the community leaders to organize their activities with the principle “Know, Trust and Cooperate” adopted by the RA Ministry of Diaspora in order to expand the scopes of activities carried out with the members of the respective community. “The target and pivot of our efforts is preservation of the Armenian identity,” the minister mentioned, adding that the first principle in this regard must be to speak Armenian and preserve the Armenian culture and traditions. The minister attached importance to the personal examples of the community leaders, which will help them reinforce faith and confidence in them and lead to success.

Afterwards, the participants of the course shared detailed information about their respective community structures, cultural and educational organizations and their outstanding achievements, as well as their current problems and difficulties.

The participants also shared their impressions of the course, making several proposals that were mainly related to the increase in the number of lectures that would help improve their skills in governance.

Minister Hranush Hakobyan meticulously touched upon the issues raised and the wishes made by all the participants and assured that the issues would be solved and the wishes would come true soon.

To make the community’s activities more goal-oriented, the minister also made several proposals and particularly called on the community leaders to maintain and enhance their contacts, stay in touch and share their best experiences with each other. She also talked about the risk and fate of the Syrian-Armenians, which is matter of concern for all Armenians, and suggested discussing within the communities the opportunities to do anything possible to support the Syrian-Armenians.

Expressing deep gratitude to the RA Ministry of Diaspora for implementing this major and helpful program, the leaders of the communities assured that they would use the knowledge and experience that they gained in Armenia in their future activities.