International Partners Express Readiness to Assist Armenia Following Devastating Floods – Minister

ALAVERDI — More than 40 representatives of diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited to Armenia visited the disaster zone today, according to Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Gnel Sanosyan, in a Facebook post.

The Minister briefed the ambassadors on the extent of the damage caused by the flood over the weekend. During the press briefing held in the Alaverdi community hall, Sanosyan mentioned that there have been numerous meetings with foreign partners over the past few days. He added that various foreign partners have expressed their willingness to provide support in professional, expert, and other capacities.

According to Sanosyan, the diplomats may not have fully grasped the true scale of the disaster beforehand, but upon visiting the disaster zone, they naturally drew conclusions that could lead to the development of specific support programs.

“That support can be expressed in various ways, from providing experts to conducting inventory work. The inventory is multi-layered and covers many areas. The number of beneficiaries is significant due to the extensive damage to private property. Community property has also been significantly damaged, so we will need various forms of support, including financial assistance. In addition to rehabilitation efforts, we should also implement preferential programs to encourage business and promote agriculture in the disaster zone. This will help people recover and resume their business activities,” said Sanosyan.

“In addition to the fact that an operational headquarters has been created, which works in an emergency mode and coordinates the efforts carried out in both Lori and Tavush regions, one of its functions is to record everything and transfer it to the republican commission,” said the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure and head of the operational staff, Gnel Sanosyan.

“Russian Railways” Company Begun Restoring the Railways

The “Russian Railways” company has promptly begun restoring the railways of Armenia, with Russia allocating funds for their restoration, announced Andrey Matveev, the press secretary of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk.

“According to the agreements reached by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Overchuk and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan, specialists from ‘Russian Railways’ OJSC have promptly started restoring the internal and only international railway communication between Armenia and Georgia. This was disrupted by the natural disaster that occurred on May 25-26 in the Lori and Tavush regions of the Republic of Armenia,” reads the statement issued by Matveev.

The press secretary added that the Russian Federation is allocating financial resources for the reconstruction of the railway, considering its importance in providing the people of Armenia with vital cargo.