FAITHFUL TO NATION’S WELFARE

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Nov 30 2006

The 9th annual telethon of Armenia Foundation took place on November
23. In Artsakh donations started on November 16. According to republic
headquarters of the telethon, 65 million drams was raised as on
November 23 in NKR compared with 60 million drams of the previous
telethon, which shows that the people of Artsakh realize the importance
of these donations. Over 240 big and small companies and citizens took
part. Andranik Aghababian, responsible for the republic headquarters
of the telethon, emphasized the level of engagement.

Large donations were made by Base Metals Ltd. (10 m drams), Karabakh
Telecom (5 m drams), NKR Ministry of Defense (4.8 m drams), Stepanakert
Clothes and Shoes Factory (4 million drams), Artsakhbank (3.8 m drams),
NKR Ministry of Health (2 million 160 thousand drams), Artsakhalco CJSC
(1 million 140 thousand drams), NKR Ministry of Education, Culture
and Sport (1 million 193 thousand drams), Karabakh Gold (400 thousand
drams), etc. Small and medium-sized businesses donated 2 million 700
thousand drams. Over 60 thousand people made donations. According to
Andranik Aghababian, the amount of donations is expected to grow. The
money raised during the telethon will be spent on the development of
economy and reconstruction of settlements of the region of Hadrut
in the framework of the Rebirth of Artsakh Project. The project
involves construction of drinking water pipelines, the bridge near
Tsakuri, the Tsakuri-Aygestan section of the North-South highway and
repair and construction of schools. All these will cost 7 million US
dollars. There is also an additional project which costs 10 million
dollars, and will be implemented if this sum is raised. It includes
the repair of the 40 km Arakel-Ktsabert road (300 thousand dollars),
the construction of the Tsakuri-Aygestan road (1.8 m dollars),
an agricultural development project (200 thousand dollars), the
irrigation system of Arevshat (150 thousand dollars), construction
and repair of schools (150 thousand dollars).