Saturday, 15 December 2007
Today the RA President-decreed State commission on preparation of events dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the 1988 December 7 earthquake in Armenia has held its first extended meeting at the Office of Government, presided at by commission chairman, RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. Apart from commission members, the meeting was attended by those members of parliament representing the earthquake-hit Shirak and Lori marzes. First, the Prime Minister outlined the objectives of the commission by noting that, in accordance with the presidential decree, first, the commission should approve the plan of actions dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the 1988 earthquake before January 15, 2008. In the meantime, the commission will have to examine in all detail the proposals which must be submitted to the Secretariat before the deadline of January 10, 2007. Serzh Sargsyan said it was crucial that the work done by the stakeholders was not a mere formality and expressed readiness to consider any question relating to the earthquake zone, starting from housing questions through to such actions aimed at appreciating the efforts of all those having contributed to the mitigation of the impact of disaster. The Prime Minister further indicated that by next end-of-year the commission will have to sum up the work done towards the elimination of effects of the earthquake over the past 20 years and to assess the extent of damage caused to the economy of our country. All this is important because in spite of the immense work done so far there still remain many problems which should not be passed over. They must be debated in public with the view of formulating specific approaches to their solution. "The State should not be the only one to address these problems: we shall have the private sector involved in these processes, too,"- the Prime Minister said by prioritizing the development of mutually beneficial public-private sector cooperation schemes instead of organizing all sorts of money contributions and fund raising campaigns.
Those members of parliament in attendance welcomed the Prime Minister's drive for mobilizing the efforts of all the stakeholders and allowing them to come up with relevant suggestions.
Then the meeting participants made a number of proposals due to be pooled in the Secretariat pending the next session of the commission and subject to consideration before the program approval.
