On November 1 a charity dinner was organized in Yerevan, which was dedicated to Telethon 2008 of Armenia Foundation. During this event 30 million dollars was pledged. For the first time in 16 years of history of the Foundation the telethon was marked by the display of will and potential of about 120 Armenian businessmen of Armenia and Russia. The donated sums will be spent on the rural development program in Armenia and Artsakh, Armenia Foundation reports. The presidents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the Catholicos, the prime minister and speaker of Armenia, the president of the Central bank, ministers, the president of the Union of Producers and Businessmen, as well as the minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan participated in the Board of Trustees. Larger donations were pledged by Samvel Karapetyan, Sergey Hambardzumyan, Gagik Tsarukyan, Seiran Karapetyan, Genady Stepanyan, Ashot Khachaturyan, Mikhail Baghdasarov, Samvel Alexanyan, Barsegh Beglaryan, Tigran Arzakansyan, the Copper and Molybdenum Factory of Zangezour, Michael Vardanyan Foundation, Eduardo Eurnekian Group, ARG, Karabakh Telecom and others. Reminder: During the telethon of 2007 in fact less than 1 million USD was collected instead of the official 15 million USD. Many benefactors promised large amount of money, however they didn’t deposit. These issues were discussed in the sessions of the custodians’ board of the Foundation. The session was moderated by RA president Serzh Sargsyan, who according to our information blamed the former minister of foreign affairs of failing the program (the latter promised that large amount of money would be collected).
