WASHINGTON—Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) recently emphasized the importance of expanding U.S. assistance to the Republic of Georgia’s Armenian-populated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk) during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah on the agency’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
In his question to Shah, Sherman outlined the difficult economic conditions facing many of the regions in the Republic of Georgia, and his efforts, in conjunction with the Armenian American community, to focus targeted assistance to the population in Javakhk.
Shah noted that “On Georgia, and specifically the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, that you were referring to, we have been working with specific programs that deal with agricultural modernization, social development, maternal health, and certain health and infrastructure efforts, as well as support for civil society groups. We have increasingly tried to do that work in consultation with Armenian American communities and with an eye toward launching specific public-private partnerships with those communities.”
To watch the exchange between Sherman and Shah, visit Sherman’s YouTube page at http://youtu.be/uhrOd5LzpdA.
In September 2011, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and Communications Director Elizabeth Chouldjian travelled to Javakhk and Tbilisi, Georgia, to hold a series of meetings with local non-government organization leaders as well as high-level meetings with Georgian government officials, to identify ways to address the concerns of the Armenian population in the Javakhk.
That dialogue continued in Washington, D.C., in January of this year, when Hachikian met with Georgian Ambassador to the U.S. Temuri Yakobashvili to explore ways to expand the Georgian-Armenian partnership to include broader direct Georgian and Armenian investments and also increased U.S. assistance to promote job-creation in the region. Following the meeting, Yakobashvili noted that “The Embassy of Georgia—in support of our government’s material commitment to economic development for our citizens in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and throughout all of our republic—looks forward to working with our friends in the U.S. Congress and the administration and with all American civil society stakeholders—including, of course, with the Armenian American community—in encouraging the targeting of U.S. assistance to meet Samtskhe-Javakheti’s urgent job-creation, infrastructure, technical, and humanitarian needs.”
The ANCA has worked closely with Reps. Sherman and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and other House members as well as USAID representatives to raise awareness about the challenges facing the population of Javakhk and identify avenues for the U.S. government to partner with the Armenian Diaspora.
Last week, Sherman was among over 30 House members who co-signed a Congressional letter spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and addressed to House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) urging that 10 percent of U.S. assistance to Georgia in FY2013 be targeted toward job creation efforts in Javakhk.
Well…even 10% og USAID through central Govt. -Georgia- is better than ===0
We have to make do with whatever they contribute to this very poor Armenian Enclave….
when Ossetia and Abkhazia were seperating from a country composition of which -population wise-is TECHNICOLOR…..our brethren were in a slumber in Yerevan.At a time when things were in favour of such small(what am I saying the largest within Gergia) ethnic people.That country i just studied is composed of more than two dozen ethnicities.
And our own Diaspora in Tfilis(sorry Tbilisi) is one of the largest still serving the progress of that country that is the most chauvinistic in the zone-of course after turco azeris
Well…even 10% of USAID through central Govt. -Georgia- is better than ===0
We have to make do with whatever they contribute to this very poor Armenian Enclave….
when Ossetia and Abkhazia were seperating from a country composition of which -population wise-is TECHNICOLOR…..our brethren were in a slumber in Yerevan.At a time when things were in favour of such small(what am I saying the largest within Gergia) ethnic people.That country I just studied is composed of more than two dozen ethnicities.
And our own Diaspora in Tiflis(sorry Tbilisi) is one of the largest still serving the progress of that country that is the most chauvinistic in the zone-of course after turco azeris