On May 23, the Public Council adjunct to the Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia held its subsequent session at the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

Greeting the members of the Public Council, RA Acting Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan congratulated Maestro Ohannes Chekidjian on receiving his high award and expressed gratitude to the participants from the Armenian Diaspora.

Chief of Staff of the RA Ministry of Diaspora Firdus Zakaryan delivered a report on the first item on the agenda. Zakaryan talked about the process of implementation of the actions included in the “Diaspora” section of the 2016-17 Plan of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and noted that the Ministry of Diaspora, with the support of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, had established an institution operating under the “one-stop shop” principle in order to provide Diaspora Armenians with consultancy, offer them business plans and help them make investments smoothly. The “Investments in Armenia” section of the Ministry’s official website features the laws on investments, taxation and customs in the Republic of Armenia and the legislative privileges in relation to investments. The RA Ministry of Diaspora has received 842 Syrian-Armenians who have addressed the Ministry with various problems with medical aid, employment, reimbursement of apartment rents, as well as legal, educational and other issues. The Ministry and pan-Armenian organizations and institutions have developed and implemented programs for preservation of the Armenian identity, taking into account the peculiarities of regions and in support of the teaching of Armenian for young Armenians and their involvement in the implementation of other educational programs.

Advisor to the RA Minister of Diaspora Stepan Petrosyan delivered a report on the results of the program for the provision and delivery of textbooks and supporting materials to Armenian educational and cultural institutions in the Diaspora in 2016. He noted that in 2016, 219 books were included in the list that the Ministry provided to Armenian schools abroad. The Ministry has allocated 50,000 textooks to 220 Armenian schools operating in 37 countries around the world. As of 22 May 2017, 10,200 books have been delivered to Armenian schools abroad. “Every year, the list of books is updated, and this year there are more textbooks in Western Armenian,” the speaker added. The presentation of the report was followed by a discussion on the need for Western Armenian language textbooks and TV shows in Western Armenian.

Head of the Department of Repatriation and Research Grigor Arshakyan talked about the preparations for the 6^th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference. He noted that on 18-20 September 2017, ahead of the 100^th anniversary of the victories in the triumphant battles in May and the 100^th anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia, nearly 2,500 state, public and political figures, leaders and members of pan-Armenian organizations and organizations of Armenian communities, journalists, cultural and spiritual figures from the Diaspora are invited to participate in the 6^th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference to be held in Yerevan under the title “Mutual Trust, Unity and Responsibility”.

Head of the Department for Relations with Pan-Armenian, International and Ecclesiastical Organizations Nayiri Mouradian delivered a report on the activities for the publication of the 2016 “Armenian Diaspora” Yearbook.

Summing up the session, Hranush Hakobyan touched upon the May 28^th celebrations and noted that upon the decree of the President of the Republic of Armenia, the period between 28 May 2017 and 28 May 2018 has been declared as the Year of the Republic, adding that large and festive events will be organized throughout the year.