Vanadzor Municipal Council member Armen Matinyan has launched a ‘development council’ seeking to bring together citizens who are concerned with their local community and are ready to exchange ideas as how to go about resolving some of its problems.

“The aim is to actually do something for Vanadzor. Today, the town has become a dead town,” noted Matinyan at the council’s inaugural session. “If current trends continue, Vanadzor will decrease in size equal to Spitak, and in ten years it will become a village. That’s the sad reality.”

Vanadzor is the third-largest city in Armenia and the capital of the Lori Province in the northern part of the country. It is located around 128 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 census, the city had a population of 86,199, down from 148,876 reported at the 1979 official census.

Matinyan stressed that permanent employment was the main issue to be tackled, coupled with a lack of faith in the future.

“If you ask Vanadzor residents how they see the tow in five years, they will respond that they do not see themselves living here or they see themselves living here in dire conditions. Even those residents with jobs are packing up and leaving for Russia, saying that their children have no future here,” noted Matinyan.

Local businessman Haygaz Simikyan, owner of a printing house, said that since people do not have a steady source of revenue he doesn’t see the town improving.

“Even if the town were to be beautified, it’s the same. Residents will not be satisfied or feel good because the issue of having an income is more important to all than everything else. On the other hand, all these things are interconnected. If the town isn’t good-looking, or attractive to investment, it cannot spur investment flows,” Simikyan said.

Those attending the meeting agreed that there must be active cooperation amongst wide segments of the town – business, cultural, education, civic society – in order to attract foreign and domestic investment.

Some participants voiced concerns regarding the future work and fate of the council.

“Numerous initiative groups have been created in Vanadzor, active civic councils, clubs, etc., which have sought to tackle similar issues. However, for various reasons, they stopped functioning after a while. I simply want a guarantee that this council will continue to work,” said Narineh Ghazaryan, president of the Crossroads NGO.