YEREVAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The purpose of the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) is to ensure economic development and promote competition in the country. The director of NCFA Bekor Papazian stated at the March 10 press conference that with this aim the Foundation is developing strategic programs. "After the end of the global financial and economic crisis, many countries will be in a sad state but Armenia should be able to get out of the crisis with higher competitiveness bases than it has today," he said. B. Papazian informed those present that the NCFA is working out anticrisis measures that will mainly include 3 sectors: health, tourism and education. In his opinion, it is more realistic to create tourism, health and educational centers in our country. "Armenia has great potential in the tourism sector, but it is not used. Our aim is to use this potentail and turn Armenia into a center of tourism," he underlined, adding the government has already approved the programs on restoration of the Tatev Monastery Complex, installation of a Cyclone-30 isotope production unit at Alikhanian Physics Institite, and creation of a Nuclear Medicine Center. The NCFA has also developed the Tumanian Garden educational program that envisages creating a number of educational centers as well as IT and innovation organizations in Yerevan's Tumanian Garden. The NCFA is a nonstate organization which operates by the state-private sector cooperation principle. Its Board of Trustees is headed by the prime minister Tigran Sargsyan. The Foundation will cooperate with ministries, implementing priority programs of the government.

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