Author: Greg Madatian

Naira Badalian. UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia Shombi Sharp welcomes policy of the new government of Armenia, which focuses on a person. Sharp said this on the sidelines of the three-day conference on the "Role of social protection in the sustainable development agenda: leaving no one behind in Armenia'' that started on November 31.

According to the UN representative, today more than 1 mln people in Armenia live in poverty, 2% of them are extremely poor. Despite a number of events, over the past 10 years the republic has failed to solve the problem of the poverty of the country's population. At this stage, according to Sharp, the Cabinet of Ministers of the country, aimed at protecting the interests of all its citizens, will be able to fulfill the task if it primarily makes social support more targeted.

As UNICEF representative in Armenia Tanja Radocaj pointed out, perhaps over the past 10 years, steps have been taken to reduce poverty, but they were obviously not enough. One third of children in Armenia live below the poverty line, and in the Shirak region more than half. This, she said, is fraught with negative consequences for the future development of the country. Today, without paying due attention to this potential, the country is undermining its long-term economic development. To this end, according to Radocaj, the organization, in close cooperation with the Armenian government, is looking for more effective ways to overcome poverty. One way is to ensure access and quality education for children. "From time to time we face a shortage of quality education in rural areas of Armenia. Thus, we consider the possibility of obtaining quality education and relevant skills as one of the most efficient methods in improving the well-being of the population in the future," she said.

Sylvie Bossoutrot, Country Manager of the World Bank in Armenia, in turn, believes that social security can protect citizens from external negative shocks. And poverty and unemployment also lead to lower fertility rates. As a result, Armenia, like many developing countries, will face the problem of an aging population in the future.

To note, the level of poverty in Armenia in the conditions of last year's economic growth of 7.5% and with 220 thousand unemployed people makes up more than 30% of the population. At the same time, Acting Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Mane Tandilyan answering the question of ArmInfo stated that Armenia aims to reduce poverty by 0.5% or more annually. Today, Mane Tandilyan believes that the social protection system needs to be revised, first of all, to improve the targeting of financial support from the state.

According to the latest official statistics, the poverty rate in Armenia in 2015 was 29.8%, which is 0.2% less than in 2014. The total number of poor people in Armenia was 900 thousand people, 310 thousand of which are very poor, and extremely poor – 60 thousand people. In 2015, about 19.4% of the country's population were classified as poor, 8.4% were very poor and 2% were extremely poor. At the same time, according to statistical data, at the end of June 2018, unemployment in Armenia, calculated using the new method that does not take into account those employed in the household, was 20.6%, having decreased by 1.2% in y-o-y terms. According to the forecasts of the World Bank, the unemployment rate in Armenia in 2018 will be 18.1%. The World Bank predicts that the poverty level (with a purchasing power parity (PPP) of $ 5.5) may reach 38.2% in 2018, with a decline to 36.8% in 2019, while the PPP calculation of $ 3.2 may reduce the poverty level in 2018-2019 from 10.1% to 9.1%.

Ani Mshetsyan. The "HayArt" Museum of Contemporary Art in Yerevan hosts an exhibition of works by eight dozen authors of paintings and installations, representing 26 different countries of the world. It became possible to open the round halls of the museum unique in their architecture for the unique exhibition only thanks to the renovation of the museum at the initiative of the Italian Embassy in Armenia.

As Rita Sharoyan, director of HayArt Cultural Center told ArmInfo in an interview, the Italian Ambassador to Armenia visited the museum with a working group of specialists during the preparatory work for the opening of the exhibition of works by famous European authors of modernity. ''They studied the state of the exhibition halls of various museums in Yerevan in order to organize this exhibition. In general, many guests from Europe highly appreciate the architecture of our building and they really liked the design of the building, but, unfortunately, it was in a rather poor condition, "Sharoyan said.

The Director emphasized that the embassy representatives still felt that the HayArt museum's capabilities were the most optimal for the fulfillment of their ideas, but the lack of repair was a serious hindrance. "We stated that we were ready to discuss the issue of renvation. Head of the EU delegation in Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski was also very interested in this issue, who had also visited the building of our museum. Various proposals were made to us, the exhibition organizers proposed to repair the museum free of charge if we agreed to provide exhibition halls for the exhibition, and we happily agreed, because it was a great achievement for us, because our museum would have acquired its original appearance again, " Sharoyan said. She stressed that the repair work, in which Italian specialists and even volunteers were involved, gave an amazing result. The exhibition of world modernists opened on September 28 and will last exactly one month, until October 25. Admission is free for everyone. Artworks, installations, short films "without end and beginning", and sculptural works are presented as exhibits. All the interior of the museum is a the synthesis of movement, sounds and colors.

To note, the "Hay Art" cultural center is the first Soviet Museum of Contemporary Art in Yerevan, founded in 1972 by famous art critic and public figure Henrich Igityan. A modernist-style building was erected – an ensemble of several round rooms located above the ground – the so-called "kruglyashek" was allocated for the museum on the main avenue of Yerevan, Then in 1987, the museum was allocated the area of the first floor of a new residential building, built across the street due to too many storage rooms. In 1997, the Museum of Contemporary Art for some reason left its unique architectural building of concrete circles and moved to the first floor of a new building that does not even have an entrance to the street. Thanks to the heads of the mayor's office a unique architectural ensemble of the first museum was fully used by commercial stalls and facilities. For many years, being on the balance of the mayor's office, the museum was completely abandoned, plaster collapsed in its halls, mountains of garbage lay, it was completely unsuitable for organizing exhibitions. For 2 decades, not a penny was allocated for its restoration. Only in one of the halls, in a completely unattractive atmosphere, some exhibitions of Armenian artists were periodically organized under the special patronage of the mayor's office of the capital. One of the latest exhibits was dedicated to the works of the famous Armenian artist Eduard Isabekyan. According to the testimony of museum workers who are not provable, Isabekyan's son Rector of the Academy of Arts Aram Isabekyan gifted the former mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan with one of his father's works to organize the exhibition.