President Serzh Sargsyan’s working visit to Aragatsotn and Shirak marzes

President Serzh Sargsyan today paid a working visit to the Aragatsotn and Shirak marzes. The Armenian president attended the opening ceremony of a kindergarten in the Aragatsotn village of Sasunik. The president toured the newly-opened kindergarten, familiarized himself with the works implemented and the conditions created for children. Sasunik, a village of 4000, has not a kindergarten building since 1998. The new construction project has been accomplished through the investments of the village administration and under the sponsorship of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Great Britain branch. The projects started in November 2013 and finished in May 2015. During the tour, the Armenian president was presented that the new two-story kindergarten building will hold 110 alumni of pre-school age in order to fully satisfy the demand of the village. As part of the project, the surrounding area has also been improved.

On the occasion of the kindergarten’s opening, Sasunik Head Arman Margaryan handed over Armine Karapet, Head of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Great Britain branch, the Certificate of Honorary Citizenship of Sasunik.

The Armenian president also visited fully-renovated and furnished Talin Children’s Art School, familiarized himself with the works implemented and the conditions for learning.

The art school building, which had been built from 1970 to 1972 and had initially operated as a kindergarten, was renovated in 1984 and was given to the art school. Before the project implementation, the building lacked a heating system and one of its sections did not operate. On February 9 2013, as a result of the respective instructions given by the RA president during his visit to Talin, the art school has been re-planned and has been fully renovated. The school has also been equipped with the necessary property.

At the school yard, the Armenian president took part in the opening ceremony of a cross-stone to the Armenian Genocide Centennial which was made by the efforts of pupils and their stonemasonry teacher.

President left Aragatsotn for the Shirak marz where he partook in the opening ceremony of the TUMO x AGBU Gyumri Tumo Center for Creative Technologies . At the beginning pf the tour, the Armenian president watched a presentation about the activities of the Tumo centers, toured the center and met with the Gyumri children participating in video clips of Shant Marathon.

The idea to establish Tumo center in Gyumri was initiated by the RA president and was realized by Shant TV. The center will start within the grounds of Gyumri Technology Center, afterwards it is expected to be moved to Gyumri’s theatre building (formerly people’s house) located in the same vicinity which is subject to full renovation and fortification. During the tour, the president was informed that for the present, the area will have 60 jobs and will be able to accept from 500 to 1000 students.

Tumo Center for Creative Technologies is an extracurricular learning environment which educates 12-18-age-old teenagers by their own choice. The first Tumo center was established at the initiative of Sam and Silva Simonians by the Simonian Educational Foundation and opened its doors to pupils on August 14 2011.

Since 2013, owing to the Central Bank’s Knowledge for Development Program, the Tumo has also been operating in Dilijan (attended by around 300 teenagers). Presently, intensive construction works are being carried out to establish such a Tumo center in Stepanakert. The construction of the center is expected to finish in September 2015 which will open its door to 1000 Artsakh teenagers (Tumo Stepanakert is a joint project by the Simonian Educational Foundation and the AGBU).

In Gyumri, President Serzh Sargsyan also attended the opening ceremony of a newly-built research center of D-Link International Pte Ltd, a networking equipment manufacturing corporation.

As part of his working visit, the Armenian president also visited Anusharan LLC in Gyumri, where he familiarized himself with the activities of the company engaged in confectionary production, its product range enlarged as a result of investments and the development projects.

The president was introduced to the main production branches of the factory – sugar confectionary (23 varieties) and flour confectionary (65 varieties). It was noted that the company started its production in the third quarter of 2014 and realizes its products in the domestic market. During 2015-2016, the company plans to enlarge its investments to organize child food production, thereby increasing its product range and product volumes. According to the executives, the company has conducted negotiations with a number of organizations to export its products to Russia, and has already concluded an agreement on exporting its sugar products to the Russian market in September this year. Presently, Gyumri’s Anusharan Confectionary and Pastry Shop employs around 100 employees with an average monthly salary of 80.000 drams.