4 million 411 thousand dram spent from the community budget for official overseas visits

The Mayor of Vanadzor, Mamikon Aslanyan, reportedly has a great love for business trips and visiting foreign countries. It is said that there is hardly a year without the mayor visiting at least two sister cities and wandering around Europe.

We sent an official written inquiry to the Vanadzor municipality, asking how many trips the head of the Vanadzor community has made to the sister cities of Vanadzor since taking office. How many such visits were made in 2019? How many official trips has the mayor made to other countries, for what purposes, and with what funds? How much money is allocated from the community budget for such trips by the mayor? How much money has been spent on the mayor's trips and visits from the municipal budget since assuming office? And specifically, how much has been spent on the mayor's travels in 2019?

We received the following response from the municipality, signed by Mayor Mamikon Aslanyan: "Since taking office, the head of the Vanadzor community, Mamikon Aslanyan, has visited one city that is a sister city of Vanadzor. In 2019, there was one such visit. The community leader has made the following trips since taking office: October 16-22, 2017, to Strasbourg, France, upon an official invitation to participate in the 33rd Plenary Session of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. From September 22-25, 2018, to Kyiv, Ukraine, upon an official invitation to the 8th Plenary Session of the Eastern Partnership Local and Regional Authorities Conference. From November 4-9, 2018, to Strasbourg, France, upon an official invitation to participate in the 35th Plenary Session of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. From April 1-7, 2019, to Strasbourg, France, upon an official invitation to participate in the 36th Plenary Session of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. From June 28 to July 1, 2019, to attend the celebrations in the sister city of Vitebsk, Belarus."

In 2019, the community budget allocated 2 million 500 thousand drams for overseas business trip expenses. Since taking office, 4 million 411 thousand drams has been spent from the community budget for the mayor's official visits abroad. In 2019, 1 million 447 thousand drams was spent from the community budget for the mayor's official trips abroad.