Working visit of the President Vahagn Khachaturyan to Gyumri

Today, President Vahagn Khachaturyan participated in the official opening of two new residential buildings, constructed by “Hayastan” All Armenian fund in “Mush-2” district of Gyumri. The Executive Director of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Haykak Arshamyan, the RA Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan, the RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan, Regional Governor of Shirak Nazeli Baghdasaryan, Mayor of Gyumri Vardges Samsonyan and other officials were also present at the opening ceremony.

The two new residential buildings constructed in “Mush-2” district are designed for 36 families, two other buildings are also being constructed. The residential complex also has a kindergarten, and there will be workshops operating in the attics.

President Khachaturyan welcomed those present and noted:

“First of all, I congratulate us all on today’s event. As people put it, life goes on. It happened so, that today's beautiful event coincided with some problems, but we decided not to postpone it. Many will ask why we aren’t dealing with the problems we have, but, you know, if we start prioritizing problems, we will fail to tell what comes first. After the 1988 earthquake, we have always prioritized the elimination of its consequences. And as we see today, years and decades later, we unfortunately haven’t been able to completely remedy these consequences. However, I am sure that its end has already come.

You live in that environment and can see that the state truly does everything possible to make sure there aren’t any earthquake consequences left, and that the people who were affected by it can finally get what they deserve, recover the losses they had.

Your moving to new apartments today is dedicated to that. This is a little special. It’s special, because the people who will enter their apartment today will have everything. There was a discussion at “Armenia” foundation, regarding the fact that there people are in need, and once they get their apartments, empty walls, what will they do? So a decision was made to turn to the local authorities, benefactors, benefactors, asking for help. I think this is a very right initiative and people can just enter the house and live there.

I want to express my gratitude to all those people who participated in the construction of this building.

I believe that in the future the citizens living here will truly make a big contribution in the strengthening of Armenia in the future. Be sure that the authorities of Armenia are doing everything to make our lives more prosperous, to make our country safer, and they are still doing everything today for our compatriots in Artsakh to feel safe. Those difficulties will be overcome, but we must overcome them together. I congratulate all those who will enter new apartments today."  

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President Vahagn Khachaturyan had a working consultation in the Shirak Regional Council, with Regional Governor of Shirak Nazeli Baghdasaryan, Mayor of Gyumri Vardges Samsonyan, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan and the Executive Director of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Haykak Arshamyan.

Governor Nazeli Baghdasaryan and Mayor Vardan Samsonyan presented to the President the results and the current state of the house construction, improvements and regional infrastructure projects implemented in Gyumri and other communities of Shirak region during the past year.

The Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan reported to the President details of the subsidy and road infrastructure projects for the forthcoming year, particularly the construction and overhaul projects of the North-South highway and inter-community roads.

The Executive Director of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Haykak Arshamyan presented to the President the completed and ongoing projects of the Fund and provided some details.

During the consultation, a number of problems existing in the Region of Shirak and in Gyumri and ways to solve them were discussed, particularly, Nazeli Baghdasaryan and Vardges Samsonyan touched upon the matter of having a gallery and a concert hall in Gyumri.

“It is at least strange that Gyumri, proclaimed the cultural capital, has neither an art gallery nor a concert hall, and as a result, after the earthquake, the cultural heritage of the Gyumri art gallery is stored in the basements of the National Art Gallery, and is therefore physically at risk,” noted the Governor of Shirak Region.

During the discussion, President Vahagn Khachaturyan expressed willingness to support the initiatives and projects of both local self-government bodies and charitable foundations aimed at the activation of the cultural and social life of Shirak as much as possible.

”We should look at Gyumri and Shirak in a much broader perspective - as our Northern Gateway, as an important economic and communication hub and, surely, as an active cultural center. We should spare no effort to make sure that Gyumri, which is already noticeably changing at present, develops and flourishes even more, returning its former role and significance,” noted the President.