The Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, Zhanna Andreasyan, received the delegation led by Corinne Fleischer, Director of the Regional Bureau of the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe of the United Nations World Food Program, which also included the acting head of the UN WFP Armenia office, deputy director Nana Scow.
Welcoming the guests, the Minister of Education, Culture, and Science referred to the cooperation with the World Food Program within the framework of the “Sustainable School Meals” program, highlighting the effective implementation of the program in regional schools of the Republic of Armenia.
According to Zhanna Andreasyan, currently, the RA government, in cooperation with the UN World Food Program, implements the “Sustainable school meals” program in 10 regions of the republic, providing more than 100,000 children with healthy daily food.
“We also want to implement the “Sustainable school meals” program in Yerevan. Many studies have been conducted to understand which model is the most effective for implementing the program in Yerevan. “Thanks to years of effective cooperation with partners, today it can be stated that the most important goals of the project have been achieved, which are to consolidate the community’s efforts and provide healthy food,” said the minister.
She also emphasized that school canteens were renovated and infrastructures were improved within the framework of the project in cooperation with partners. According to the minister, expanding the program is being considered. Zhanna Andreasyan informed Korin Fleischer that implementing the “Sustainable School Meals” program in RA could be regarded as successful, and the experience, which is already tangible, can be an example for other countries as well.
During the meeting, the Director of the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe Regional Bureau of the UN World Food Program, Corin Fleisher, referred to the continuation of cooperation and spoke about the strategy of WFP Armenia and the upcoming activities.
The Minister of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Armenia drew the attention of the representative of the UN World Food Program to the food and educational problems caused by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted that in January of this year, a letter was sent to the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program, David Beasley, calling on the UN WFP to use all available tools to support the children of Nagorno Karabakh and ensure their fundamental rights. :
The parties also discussed other issues of mutual interest.
