PRESS RELEASE
United Nations Development Programme Armenia
Community Development Project
14 Petros Adamyan Str., Yerevan 0010, Armenia
Contact: Zara Amatuni
Tel: 374-10-56-60-73
Fax: 374-10-54-38-11
E-mail: zara.amatuni@undp.org
Web:

Visit to Lusadzor Community by the Representatives of UNDP, Embassy of
Italy and Hayastan All-Armenian Fund**

****On November 5, 2007 Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP
Resident Representative, H.E. Massimo Lavezzo Cassinelli, Ambassador of
Italy and Ara Vardanyan, Deputy Director of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
paid an official visit to Lusadzor community of Tavush marz. The purpose
of the visit was to inaugurate the jointly launched community-based
projects as well as to reiterate the commitment of all three parties to
enhance the development cooperation framework in this community. The
delegation was received by Mr. Armen Ghularyan, Governor of Tavush marz,
Mr. Suren Kocharyan, Mayor of Lusadzor and the Community Council.

In May 2007, UNDP, in line with its participatory planning and
development needs prioritization, entered the village to address and
help resolve the most urgent needs identified by the community people.
Projects identified are focused on recovery of the social and economic
infrastructure of the village, one of which involves the construction of
a 4.8-kilometer intra-community natural gas network. Works are currently
underway and the project will be accomplished by December of this year.
With the technical design already completed, UNDP will next focus on the
building of an internal potable water network and the reconstruction of
the internal irrigation network.

In an effort to boost agricultural development, two projects are
currently being implemented in the community. One of these initiatives
aims at returning the non-tilled arable lands into crop rotation. In
order to restore the proper cultivation of Lusadzor’s land plots, around
150 rural households have recently been provided with diesel, fertilizer
and 17 tons of high quality wheat seeds. Consequently, in the month of
November, UNDP will start distributing persimmon seedlings to the
households of Lusadzor. Under this project it is envisaged to replace
the old gardens of the beneficiaries with newly planted orchards. This
opportunity promises a more favorable condition for fruit marketing as
persimmon is notable for its steady high yield qualities and resistance
toward diseases.

Lusadzor is one of the six cluster villages of Ijevan sub-district
selected as part of the Rural Development Program launched by Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund on the initiative of the RoA Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, immediately following the Third Armenia-Diaspora Conference.
All of the abovementioned projects in Lusadzor are implemented under
UNDP’s Community Development Project, with the financial support of the
Government of Italy totaling 500,000 Euros and co-funding by UNDP making
34,000 Euros. *//*

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