Armenian Americans from across California’s Central Valley gathered Friday evening for a community briefing by Congressman David Valadao and Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Suren Hamparian. The event, hosted by ANCA-Central California and moderated by former Fresno County Supervisor and longtime civic leader Debbie Poochigian, focused on Representative Valadao’s leadership in securing U.S. appropriations for Artsakh de-mining, and also his recent trip to both Artsakh and Armenia.
The program featured opening remarks by Poochigian, a presentation by the Congressman, who serves as Co-Chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, about his legislative leadership and travel to Artsakh. Also on the agenda was an advocacy update from Hamparian and a lengthy question and answer session. The event, held in the Garo and Alice Gureghian Armenian Cultural Center in Fresno, ended with a robust round of applause for the Congressman’s hard work on behalf of issues of special concern to the Fresno area’s large and active Armenian community.
Earlier this year, the U.S. House adopted the Valadao Amendment, allocating continued U.S. finding to the HALO Trust to complete the removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance from across Artsakh, bring vast tracts of otherwise fallow land back into agricultural production. The de-mining operation also employs hundreds of locals, who have an intimate knowledge of the landscape.
