On November 15, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan received the delegation of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, including Head of the Office of the ICMPD in Armenia Karel Hofstra, Deputy General Director of the ICMPD Gabriela Abadon, Eastern Dimension Director Martijn Pluim, Head of the Public Relations Department Slavka Zborovianova, program correspondent Adiba Asadova and translator Artashes Emin.

Greeting the guests, Minister Hranush Hakobyan attached importance to the activities and upcoming programs of the organization and particularly stated the following: “What you are doing is very important and necessary in a world of unrest. The results of the United Nations are sensational. Based on those results, every 285^th person is a migrant. Due to the Syrian war, thousands of Syrian-Armenians took shelter in Armenia, and most of them settled here. Housing, employment, education and training are primary issues for their integration, and the inter-Agency Commission on Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues is in charge of solving those issues. Investments are of major and vital significance for Armenia since they will provide the opportunity to revitalize the economy, create jobs and stop emigration. We are creating a structure under the “one-stop shop” principle in order to engage well-known economists, representatives of the Armenian Diaspora and famous businessmen. The Diaspora Armenian businessmen will be offered business plans and legal consulting and will be provided with assistance in registering their businesses. We will create an information platform, draft brief information about the laws of the Republic of Armenia and disseminate the information around the world. We can help make the already existing business plans become international business plans. We need to talk about this openly and transparently because 10 million Armenians are following us. I think we will have concrete results during our next meeting.”

Deputy General Director of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development Gabriela Abadon expressed gratitude for the cordial reception, approved the presented programs and projects and expressed willingness to collaborate with the Ministry and other state organizations actively. She briefly presented the main goals, objectives and areas of the organization and expressed certainty that practical steps would be taken for implementation of the joint programs during the upcoming meetings.

The perspectives for the preservation of national and cultural identity of Armenians in Europe, tourism and the growth of hotel businesses were also discussed during the meeting.