The first amount of garlic powder produced in Vanadzor was successfully consumed in the domestic and international markets, encouraging the producers to double the production of that piquant spice. (The powder is on sale in Europe, Russia and Georgia).

The idea of garlic powder production belongs to businessman Armen Galoyan from Vanadzor who conceived it while studying the local market.

The construction of a new medical-rehabilitation center in the heart of Vanadzor was to have been completed in May and the construction works of the cinema were to have started at the beginning of the year.

But the global economic crisis upset all the plans in the third largest town of Armenia and the works over two construction projects have stopped now.

For the five-year-old Sona two days a week are the favorite ones - the days she and her mother visit Vanadzor’s Health and Medical-Social Rehabilitation Center of the ‘Arabkir’ Medical Complex for Children.

The center, which has been run in Vanadzor for five years, is attended by children with physical and mental problems. As a result of the medical and psychological treatment they undergo, the children’s physical and mental skills start developing. Sona is one of the 50 children who attend the center.

A garbage recycling plant will be constructed in Vanadzor till the end of the year where garbage will be assorted, recycled and sold at different markets of Armenia.

The initiator of the project is ‘Clean Land’ LCC which applied to the City Council of Vanadzor and got the right to assorting and recycling the garbage for a 25-year period.

Provincial migration information centers have opened in Armenia to assist Armenians illegally living in European countries to settle in a new environment upon return to their homeland. The centers opened from the beginning of April in 4 provinces – Lori, Shirak, Gegharkunik, Kotayk, and in Yerevan and will assist Armenians who have returned from European countries, as well as to give advice on legal settlement for those who are emigrating to European countries.

The activity of the provincial migration information centers is managed by People In Need (PIN) Czech organization.

Vera Grigoryan eagerly waits for Naira every Tuesday. She takes small steps to walk to the building entrance, leans on her cane and stares at the steps below.

Tuesday is the only day of the week that fills the emptiness of the 81 year old for a couple of hours. On that day, social worker Naira Mkhitaryan comes, and cleans Vera’s small apartment and cooks for her.

Vera is one of the 45 beneficiaries of the “Armenian Caritas” charity organization that helps elderly and lonely people in Vanadzor.

For a month now, Vanadzor local press and TV have been advertising the opening of an Internet dating agency.

Visiting http://www.life-and-love.net, a German web page residents can look through the candidate offering friendship or marriage. The webpage has been functioning since last November and is available in English, German, Russian and Armenian.

The initiative of opening the meeting venue, considered an innovation for a small town like Vanadzor, belongs to “Trichk” educational, cultural and counseling NGO.

A new lactic acid product, designed to aid digestion and preventing gastric diseases has appeared at pharmacies in Vanadzor early this month.

Created by local milk and dairy engineer-technologist Hamlet Hakobyan, a new product called “Bifilact”, is a food supplement rich in pro-biotic bacteria. Besides easing digestion it prevents minor gastric discomforts and protects against some infections.

It was for the first time that the 19-year-old girl prepared pizza by herself. On the weekend Sima Gharaghazaryan, with her conventional mother (the social worker of the ‘family’) ran to a shop. They bought the necessary things and food for the week and returned home. Sunday evening was passed eating pizza with the whole family – in a family for which the word and the occasion has special meaning.

Four months ago Sima got the apartment as a provision of her “graduation” from a Vanadzor orphanage. Now, she and others are learning to live an independent life in a sort of “half-way” house preparing for their adult lives.

The residents of the emergency-repairs status Lori province learned that this year as well the buildings they live in would not be reconstructed, since the government did not allocate money from the state budget.

Though during the discussion of the 2009 state budget plan the Lori Municipality submitted to the government a list of 10 buildings in the province that need emergency reinforcement, the executive branch nevertheless got around this problem again this year.

After reinforcing buildings requiring emergency repair 4 years ago, the government has not undertaken anything else in this direction.