From June 1, 2023, the office opened the first Repatriation and Integration Center in Yerevan in cooperation with H. Hovnanyan Family Foundation. The center provides a wide range of individual services to repatriates, implementing measures aimed at the integration of repatriates. Presenting in detail the work done in 2023, the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan said.
The report on the process and the results of the implementation of the RA Government programme (2021-2026) in 2023 was debated at the extraordinary sitting of the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport on March 22.
Zareh Sinanyan noted that on August 1-3, 2023, a National Youth Forum was organized in Yerevan, in which more than 600 young people from 50 countries of the world and more than 100 speakers from 15 countries participated. The participants of the forum discussed issues regarding repatriation, national security, education, protection of Armenian interests in different formats.
The key rapporteur highlighted the Assembly of Armenian lawyers held on October 27-29, which was attended by 250 Armenian lawyers from more than 30 countries.
According to the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, on August 5-19, 2023, the World Committee of the Pan-Armenian Games organized the 8th Pan-Armenian Games in Armenia, in which 7.161 athletes from 181 cities of 41 countries took part.
Speaking about the iGorts programme involving Diaspora Armenian specialists in the RA state administration system, the speaker mentioned that within the framework of the programme, 50 Diaspora Armenian specialists were involved in 23 structures of the RA state administration system in 2022-2023. About 70% of the participants of the programme stayed in Armenia, taking permanent jobs in state institutions and in the private sector.
According to the key rapporteur, in 2021, as a result of the amendments made to the law on Public Service, the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs can have Commissioners for Diaspora Affairs in foreign countries with the status of advisers appointed on a public basis. A list of potential candidates has been prepared according to geographical distribution, based on which several dozen appointments are planned in 2024. The establishment of the Institute of the Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs will expand the office's networking capacities.
The drafts of the law on Repatriation and the 2024-2030 strategy of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation were elaborated.
In the reporting year, the RA High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs visited Armenian communities in 39 different cities of 13 countries: USA, France, Syria, Lebanon, Russia, Cyprus, Poland, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain and Ukraine. More than 178 events were carried out during the visits.
The High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs answered the deputies’ questions, referring to the preservation of the Western Armenian language as an inseparable part of culture and identity.
