The Repatriation and Integration Center of the RA Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs is holding a series of meetings to support the integration of repatriates.

On March 28, the center organized an event titled "Additional Education and Retraining Opportunities for Repatriates," attended by repatriates from various countries including the USA, Canada, Greece, Argentina, Russia, Iran, Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon, Syria, and others.

Hovhannes Aleksanyan, responsible for repatriation affairs at the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, welcomed the attendees to the gathering, emphasizing its dual focus on governmental assistance programs and private sector educational prospects for repatriates.

Regina Arakelyan, serving as the interim head of the additional and continuing education section within the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports, along with Tatevik Gasparyan, the director of the National Center for Vocational Education and Training Development, presented speeches detailing the respective programs at the meeting.

The speakers outlined that RA state assistance programs encompass a broad spectrum of fields, ranging from conventional professions to contemporary career paths, and are accessible to all repatriates.

Various training courses in information technology, education, service provision, and professional domains were presented by representatives including Martin Ghazaryan from "Sovorir.IT", Vahan Ghukasyan from "Move2edu/Move2Armenia", Sofya Seyranova from "ArmGate", Vahan Mkrtchyan from the “IT Academy”, Tatev Vardanyan from the "Manana" educational center, and Davit Arzumanyan from the "Kanon" vocational school.

Martin Ghazaryan, the executive director of "Sovorir.IT," provided insights into the "Homeland-Diaspora. Vol. 1" program, a collaborative effort with the Repatriation and Integration Center.

"The goal of this program is to help repatriates get new education and qualifications in their homeland. We are talking about the digital sphere. We want to take the repatriates through 4 stages, which are training, probationary period, certification, and job placement," said
Martin Ghazaryan.

Mariam-Anabel Palasanian, a participant who recently relocated from Argentina to Armenia, attended the meeting to explore new educational and training opportunities.

"I have already started working in Armenia. I am an English teacher by profession. Even now, I teach English to IT professionals. I came here today to be more informed about training areas and opportunities," said Mariam-Anabel Palasanian.

Following the presentations, the meeting continued with informal discussions.