Seda Aghbalyan: “Yerevan’s care needs a caring, delicate heart and hands”

Seda Aghbalyan, a candidate nominated by the Heritage Party list in Yerevan City Council elections, answers WomenNet.am questions. She says that the Heritage Party’s “Smile” slogan will add “Honest smile.”

She was born in 1984 in Yerevan. She graduated from the Yerevan State University of Economics, an economist by profession. She worked as an author and presenter at “Armenakob” TV, and then worked on Public Radio. Currently, co-founder and director of the Seductive World travel agency.

– There are many young and new faces in Yerevan City Council candidates, including you. How well does the public know you?

–  I’ve always done my job with devotion and have never had a desire to be recognized, and as a result of the previous government’s policy, many talented and active people, including young people, have remained in the shade. I started my activity in a travel agency. Because of my work, my love and devotion to the country and especially to Yerevan are well-known to all.

–  Apart from being a birthplace, what does Yerevan mean to you?

– Yerevan is also a city with great opportunities for development, with its problems, it has a great potential to become a developed tourist city. The huge budget of Yerevan could satisfy the accumulated problems if it were no corruption. But let’s hope that we are no longer in this kind of phenomenon, and now we have to promote the solution of the urgent issues of the capital.

– Yerevan City Hall has repeatedly forbidden street trade, but it continues today. What are the ways to resolve this issue?

– You know, it is not difficult to forbid, instead of offering nothing, while for many it is the only way of living. It is clear that street trade of its kind is not appropriate for the appearance of our capital not only in terms of purity but also by tourists. I think alternative should be offered before bans, they should be affordable markets where it will be possible to implement civilized trade. Today, it is difficult to persuade the villager to sell his crop on the market, which, in his opinion, is an additional expense and loss of time. But at the same time it is necessary to respect the law.

–  In your opinion, how will women’s involvement in politics contribute to the solution of problems in the country?

– I positively estimate the involvement of women in politics, which is already trendy worldwide. Experience shows that women are deeply involved in all issues, more peaceful during discussions; they are able to eradicate sharp corners and find the right solutions. And then, women face the problems of the country, the city, with the heart, like a home, they will not take risks and will not endanger peace for some interest. I appreciate the role of women in Yerevan as the care of the capital needs a caring, delicate heart and hands.