Wednesday, July 18 2018 13:39

ArmInfo. "One of the main tasks of  Armenia is the successful integration of refugees from Syria into a  new environment." In this regard, we very much appreciate the  "Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Armenians and Local  Communities" program (IRIS), funded by the regional fund of the  European Union (MADAD) and co-financed by the Austrian development  agency, "said Minister of Diaspora of Armenia Mkhitar Hayrapetyan  during the presentation of the IRIS program on July 18.

He stressed that the total budget of the project is 3.3 million  euros. According to Hayrapetyan, the program is aimed at ensuring a  dignified life for refugees from Syria through the integration of the  latter into the socio-political and social processes in Armenia. The  program provides access to medical services for approximately 9,000  Syrian Armenians, 300 families will receive financial assistance to  rent apartments, 200 entrepreneurs will also be assisted to expand  business. Within the framework of the program, 3,000 children of  Syrian Armenians will be assisted for faster integration into  Armenian society.

"I want to note that any program aimed at the speedy integration of  Syrian Armenians and refugees from Syria in our society is extremely  important for us." The Diaspora Ministry is ready to apply all the  resources we have for the successful implementation of this program,  as its successful implementation is a success for all The improvement  of the living standards of the Syrian Armenians is an important goal  for all of us, "Hayrapetyan said in a conversation with journalists.  As for the criteria for selecting the participants of the program,  the minister noted that representatives of the most vulnerable group  of Syrian Armenians were chosen.  In turn, the head of the EU  delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalsky said that the European Union  very much wanted to assist Armenia in the issue of integrating Syrian  Armenians into the life of the country. "We all know that Armenia  takes the third place in the world in terms of the number of refugees  from Syria.Our main task is to assist in the full integration of  refugees into the life of the country, as well as to improve their  living standards, I hope that this program will be successful and  help Syrian refugees, I hope that our cooperation within the  framework of this program will very soon yield a result, "the  ambassador said. He also noted that one of the main advantages of the  IRIS program is that it is long-term and will be implemented from  2018 to 2021.  According to the Armenian MFA data, Armenia received  over 15.000 refugees, the main part of them are ethnic Armenians.