80% of Regions Have No Gyms or Swimming Pools: Pashinyan Issues Instructions

80 percent of regions in Armenia have no gyms or swimming pools. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during a government session.

"In 80 percent of our regions, there are no gyms or swimming pools where people can visit and exercise. We observed this necessity on-site during my visit to the consolidated community of Vayots Dzor and Berd, and I have already instructed to create sports centers in Vayots Dzor (in Yeghgnadzor and Vayk) and the Berd community, which must include a swimming pool designed for both children and adults. Moreover, we have specific ideas regarding how everything should be organized in relation to further management. We need to negotiate with fitness companies that operate professionally in this field, and we think that after establishing public infrastructure, we can hand it over to professional companies," Pashinyan said.

According to the Prime Minister, it is also necessary to develop projects for creating sports centers following the logic of building educational complexes. Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, in turn, reported that the Prime Minister's instruction regarding the creation of sports centers is underway, and they have already held professional discussions on what components a typical sports complex should include.

"We are already engaging in design work with our partners from the Urban Development Committee. This is also part of the sports strategy, which is already in circulation and will soon be presented to the government's discussion. In that strategy, we have connected certain sports infrastructures with the logic of educational complexes. For example, the football fields will be located near these educational complexes," Andreasyan said.