InternationalAmenia’s new Diaspora Ministry: looking to build even closer ties
Published: Friday November 21, 2008
On October 1 of this year, the government of the Republic of Armenia launched the Diaspora Ministry.
Armenia's prime minister, Tigran Sarkisian, has spoken repeatedly about the significance, in the global marketplace, of firms that transcend national boundaries. He argues that the existence of thriving global networks of Armenians gives "the Armenian World" a competitive advantage that it should exploit. This is one reason the Armenian government seeks to strengthen the Armenian diaspora and its relations with Armenia.
It is certainly not the only one.
The reputation Armenians around the world build for themselves through their talent and hard work enhances Armenia's prestige.
The organized diaspora gives Armenia political support in Washington, Moscow, and European capitals. It provides financial support to Armenia through charitable giving as well as investments that might not have been made in Armenia were it not for the investors' Armenian connections. Ethnic Armenians constitute an important part of Armenia's tourist industry.
The diaspora also includes hundreds of thousands of people born in Armenia who send money home, come back to visit relatives and friends, and in some cases return to Armenia with capital to start businesses.
The government realizes that Armenia, in turn, can help Armenians around the world as they try to build and nourish identities and communities that are connected to each other and to Armenia. Indeed, one of the main ways Armenia can and does help is to bring together, in Armenia, schoolteachers or athletes or filmmakers or writers or young people or dentists or any other group of people, facilitating networking. This is a service to the diaspora and, at the same time, enhances tourism to Armenia.
The networking, visiting, investing, charitable work, and, yes, marrying happen for the most part on the initiative of individuals and organizations.
But the Armenian government, too, over the last two decades, has taken a variety of initiatives to enhance the Armenia-diaspora relationship. Some of these initiatives are institutional, such as the establishment of the Armenia Fund and the Pan-Armenian Games. Some are legal: ethnic Armenians can get a special residency status that entitles them to live and work in Armenia without a work permit, and allows them to own land, a privilege otherwise reserved for citizens. And they can become citizens while maintaining their existing citizenship.
By establishing the Diaspora Ministry, President Serge Sargsian is raising the profile of the Armenia-diaspora relationship within the Armenian government and thus acknowledging the value and importance of that relationship. The ministry offers an additional way for Armenian-Americans and Armenians elsewhere to connect to the homeland.
At the helm of the new Diaspora Ministry is an experienced, dynamic, and capable leader, Hranush Hakobyan.
In an interview with the Armenian Reporter, Ms. Hakobyan says she is looking for capable Armenians from the diaspora to be part of the ministry staff. (In fact the United Nations Development Programme is recruiting people for six-month stints with the ministry.)
She urges Armenians from around the world to go to the ministry, where "they can be assured to receive any assistance that they might need."
Meanwhile the ministry has come to the United States. Ms. Hakobyan is visiting one of the largest diaspora communities, that of Southern California until the end of the month. We urge readers in the area to take this opportunity to reach out to the minister, hear her out, and share with her their thoughts and concerns.
connect:
