The UN in Armenia, together with its strategic partners - government officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps, international organizations, private sector, civil society, educational institutions and media, celebrates the 67th anniversary of the UN today.

At the official ceremony, a specially designed UN Post Stamp was cancelled by Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator, Ashot Hovakimyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andranik Alexanyan, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Juan Pablo Gechidjian, Haypost Trust Manager and Haik Avagyan, Acting CEO of Haypost. The UN Post Stamp is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s membership in the UN and to the 20th anniversary of the UN presence in Armenia.

The celebration culminated with the UN Journalism Awards Ceremony, where four best journalists received awards for their professional coverage of issues related to the UN work in Armenia. The winner of the 1st place award was ArmNews TV team (Artak Aleksanyan, David Sargsyan, Tatevik Baghdasaryan), who received a laptop. There were two 2nd place award winners: Liana Gyozalyan from Respublika Armenia newspaper and Narek Manukyan from www.1in.am electronic media. They were awarded net-books. The 3rd place award went to Eleonora Araratyan from MediaMax News Agency, who received a photo-camera. The UN expert jury selected the winners based on their professionalism, in-depth knowledge of the UN objectives and creativity.

During the ceremony a photo exhibition, which illustrates the UN work and achievements in support of the country’s efforts towards sustainable development, was inaugurated. The goal of this mobile exhibition is to raise public awareness about UN values and to promote UN achievements. It will be displayed around the country for all people to see.

Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia said, “Over these past 20 years, jointly with the partners, we have contributed towards the achievement of Armenia’s development goals by enhancing state capacity, supporting a profound legislative reform and strengthening the country’s social fabric and resilience.”

Ashot Hovakimyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, “The work of the United Nations reaches every corner of the country, affects our lives and contributes to the well-being of our nation.”

On 24 October 1945, sixty-seven years ago, the founding Charter of the UN entered into force. The UN Office in Armenia was opened in December 1992, after Armenia became a member of the United Nations in March 1992.