US ARMENIANS CONCERNED OVER CONDITIONS OF ARMENIAN POPULATION IN SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI REGION OF GEORGIA

PanARMENIAN.Net - Last week the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) held a series of meetings with White House and State Department officials, as well as the Georgian Ambassador to the United States Levan Mikeladze to inquire about the current situation in Georgia, to share the Armenian American community's concerns regarding the social and economic conditions of Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia and to discuss the needs of the Armenian community in Tbilisi and elsewhere in the republic. "The urgent appeal by the grass-roots organizations of Javakhetia, which has long suffered under the policies of previous Georgian administrations, represents a major move by the Javakhk civil society to advance the process of change within Georgia and place it on a fast track," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. At that he expressed hope that the newly elected Georgian President and his team will respond promptly to this appeal and establish partnership with this resourceful and uniquely strategic region. The ANCA team pointed out the present poor state of the region's basic infrastructure, the lack of jobs, the region's inability to communicate with the outside world and the immediate need for new investment to be made in Javakhetia, which has long been deprived of any meaningful level of U.S. or other international aid. To launch an early economic take-off, ANCA proposed a multi-year and targeted U.S. economic assistance program for the region within the Georgia aid package.