President Serzh Sargsyan received the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program Ertharin Cousin and participants of the Yerevan Forum

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program Ertharin Cousin and participants of the 18th Global Child Nutrition Forum held in Yerevan.

The President welcomed members of the presentable delegation representing over sixty countries, who have arrived to Armenia to participate at the Forum and expressed gratitude to the organizers of this important event which is being held in our region for the first time, particularly to the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program Ms Ertharin Cousin.

At the meeting, the parties noted with satisfaction that in recent years in the area of school nutrition, Armenia has registered considerable success and acquired experience which, according to the organizers of the gathering, has become the reason for inviting the Forum in Armenia.

The President of Armenia hailed the cooperation established between the Government of Armenia and the UN World Food Program and the resulting from that cooperation Sustainable School Nutrition program carried out in our country. Currently, over 83000 children in ten marzes of Armenia receive meals at schools.

The President assured that the program in Armenia will be continuous and toward that end works on the creation of the Sustainable School Nutrition Fund are being carried out.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed the importance of the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda some of 17 goals of which are related to the children’s and mothers’ health and the problems of the improved nutrition. President Sargsyan inquired from the participants of the meeting about the situation with the problem in their respective countries and experiences in this area.

The participants of the meeting thanked for organizing the Forum in Armenia on a high level and expressed readiness to continue a close cooperation with Armenia.

At the meeting, President Serzh Sargsyan awarded Pascale Micheau – the Country Director and Representative of the Yerevan Office of the UN World Food Program and Vladimir Chernigov – the Director of the Social and Industrial Foodservice Institute of the Russian Federation with the Medals of Gratitude for the significant humanitarian activities carried out in Armenia.