YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Zurab Pololikashvili, who arrived in Armenia to attend the 67th meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe, the PM’s Office said.

Welcoming the visit of Zurab Pololikashvili’s delegation to Armenia and highlighting the fact that Armenia was elected member of the UNWTO Executive Council for 2021-2025, the Prime Minister said this will further boost the productive partnership. He said that tourism is the most affected branches of the economy from COVID-19, which is now at a recovery stage, and the government assists this process with different programs.

The UNWTO Secretary-General expressed gratitude to the Armenian side for the warm welcome and congratulated the Armenian PM on birthday, wishing good health and a productive work. He welcomed the Armenian government’s decision to hold the meeting in Yerevan, shared his impressions on the course of the event and the meetings held, assessing the session works as effective. Zurab Pololikashvili praised the recovery trends of tourism sector in Armenia and expressed readiness to deepen the partnership with the government of Armenia.

The sides discussed the prospects of expanding the cooperation in tourism sector. Both sides attached importance to the initiatives aimed at the development of tourism and agrotourism, improvement of infrastructure, implementation of programs directed to doing tourism business, as well as the empowerment of women entrepreneurship. The Prime Minister presented the government’s programs in these directions and highlighted the UNWTO consulting support in this context.

Views were exchanged also about the possibilities of holding an investment forum on tourism in Armenia next year, and agreement was reached to continue the active work towards the fulfillment of the cooperation agenda.