RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan received the delegation headed by the Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe for the UN World Food Program Corinne Fleischer. Acting Head of the UN WFP Armenian Office, Deputy Director Nanna Skau was among the delegation.

Welcoming the guests, the ESCS Minister touched upon cooperation with the World Food Program as part of the “Sustainable School Feeding” program, highlighting the importance of efficient implementation of the program in regional schools of the Republic of Armenia.

According to Zhanna Andreasyan, the RA Government, in cooperation with the UN World Food Program, is currently implementing the “Sustainable School Feeding” program in 10 regions of the country, daily providing more than 100 thousand children with healthy food.

We want to implement the “Sustainable School Feeding” program in Yerevan as well. Many studies have been conducted to find out which model best suits the implementation of the program in Yerevan. Thanks to many years of effective cooperation with partners, today we can state that the most important goals of the program have been realized, which are to consolidate the efforts of the community and provide healthy food,” said the Minister.

She also emphasized that school canteens were renovated and infrastructure was improved in cooperation with partners within the scope of the program. According to the Minister, the possibility of expanding the program is under consideration. Zhanna Andreasyan informed Corinne Fleischer that the implementation of the “Sustainable School Feeding” program in Armenia can be considered successful and the tangible experience can serve as an example for other countries.

During the meeting, Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe for the UN World Food Program Corinne Fleischer referred to the continuation of the cooperation and spoke about the strategy of the WFP Armenia and upcoming tasks.

The RA ESCS Minister drew the attention of the representative of the UN World Food Program to the food supply and education issues that have arisen as a result of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. She 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 utilize all available tools under its disposal to assist the children of Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure their fundamental rights.

The sides also discussed other issues of mutual interest.