Wednesday, 2 August 2006
Republic of Armenia Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan received the delegation led by UN World Food Program Executive Director James T. Morris who is in our country on a regional visit. The Prime Minister expressed high appreciation and emphasized the importance of the work carried out under the UN World Food Program since 1993 when the program started its operations in Armenia. Andranik Margaryan said that over the past 13 years, the World Food Program had gone a long way towards improving the situation with foodstuff provision to the most vulnerable groups of population, inclusive of refugees, as well as in terms of supporting communities by means of investment into infrastructure and human potential. According to the head of the Armenian government, the assistance received from the WFO by nearly 200 thousand needy people in Armenia had risen to 134 thousand tons of humanitarian commodities equivalent of USD 75 million as of the first six months of 2006. The Prime Minister emphasized the shift operated in the mid-1999 from emergency assistance towards long-term rehabilitation programs owing to which durable values had been created to be used by the communities, households and individuals in future. As for concrete programs, such as the "Meal for Work" program, temporary employment was provided to the unemployed serving first of all as a great psychological backing to these needy persons.
During the meeting, the parties touched upon the consequences of the drought which had struck a number of regions in Armenia. The Prime Minister asked to possibly assist Armenia in overcoming the consequences of said drought. He evoked with gratitude the emergency assistance rendered by the WFO in 2000 to that effect which was highly appreciated by communities throughout Armenia.
Mr. James Morris praised the pace of implementation of WFO programs in Armenia and said that during this visit he had had the opportunity to travel to Lori and Tavoush marzes and get a first-hand view of the work done locally. The Executive Director spoke in laudatory terms of the ongoing cooperation between the WFO and the GoA - RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, in particular. Having expressed readiness to continue cooperating with local stakeholders, Mr. James Morris said to be impressed with Armenia
