On August 23, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia Firdus Zakaryan, Deputy Chief of Staff Yerem Simonyan, Head of the Department of Armenian Communities of CIS countries Vaghinak Kocharyan and Vice-President of the Union of Armenians of Russia and the World Armenian Congress Vladimir Aghayan paid a working visit to the Tavush Province of the Republic of Armenia where they had a meeting with Governor of Tavush Province Hovik Abovyan.

Expressing gratitude to the governor for the reception, Firdus Zakaryan stated that the Ministry of Diaspora is carrying out the initiative of finding sponsors for Armenia’s borderline villages ahead of the 6^th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference. The Chief of Staff noted that the Ministry has already summed up the priority issues of those villages which will be presented to the participants of the Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference. Firdus Zakaryan added that the initiative has already sparked reactions from several benefactors who will assume responsibility for solving the issues of two settlements in the Tavush Province.

Vladimir Aghayan stated that since the issue of support to borderline villages will also be considered during the 6^th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference, the goal of the meeting is to get acquainted with the programs under implementation in the province and talk about the opportunities for relevant investments in those villages during the conference.

Governor Hovik Abovyan welcomed the willingness of the Ministry of Diaspora and the Union of Armenians of Russia to provide assistance to the borderline villages and presented several successful programs that have been carried out in the province and have helped not only create new jobs, but also expand the circle of production capacities.

At the end of the meeting, an agreement was reached on future actions.