Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired an enlarged consultative meeting, attended by Cabinet members and heads of public agencies.

The meeting began with a minute of silence held in memory of those Armenian servicemen killed in the war.

The Prime Minister said the meeting sought to discuss issues related to our compatriots who moved from Artsakh to Armenia during the war. “In particular, we need to discuss what support programs will be implemented for them. In the meantime, I should state that we need to reach out the support to Artsakh. In other words, the program is meant to promote the process of our compatriots’ repatriation back to Artsakh. In this regard, let us first record what we have done during this period, how we have supported them, what programs are going to be implemented in the near future, and how we will implement those programs,” the Prime Minister said.

The officials in charge reported that the process of assisting our Artsakh-based compatriots has been carried out around the clock ever since the first days of the war in close coordination with the partners from the Artsakh Republic under the direct coordination of the Office of Armenia’s Prime Minister. Volunteer groups were involved, operating both in Artsakh and Armenia. The ongoing efforts seek to provide housing, food, as well as to address Artsakh children’s educational, healthcare-related and other problems. Food and basic necessities were made available to those people who had moved to Armenia through individual donations and state funds.

Some of those who moved to Armenia have been accommodated in the apartments of individuals, in various state-owned institutions, as well as in hotels and guesthouses. The Government will refund their utility bills in the near future. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Zaruhi Batoyan stressed that not a single Artsakh resident was left without a place to stay overnight during these days.

The meeting highlighted the need to develop infrastructure necessary for the people of Artsakh to return to their native settlements, to restore the local housing estate, to implement social assistance measures and address other priorities.

Prime Minister Pashinyan instructed to set up a task force in cooperation with the Artsakh government in order to deal with the aforementioned issues and develop proposals for solving the existing problems. The task force was told to report back progress to the Prime Minister on a weekly basis.