Beginning in October, Armenia will launch "e-Visas"‹a program that offers visas electronically to those travelling to Armenia. With the help of the United Nations Development Program office in Yerevan, Armenia will become only the second country in the world to offer e-Visas.

Anyone around the world with access to a computer may apply for a visa online, submit a fee by credit card, and receive a response within 24 hours. The electronically received visa will be honored immediately at Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport. After a trial run there, the service will be expanded to include Armenia's borders with Georgia and Iran.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian, who presented the proposal at Thursday's cabinet meeting, discussed the benefits of this innovative program. "The e-Visa will allow anyone, anywhere, to apply for and receive a visa to Armenia. This is the first step in a program which will put other consular services online as well. After all, we have embassies and consulates in three dozen cities around the world, but Armenians and non-Armenians the world over have a personal and business interest in Armenia; they deserve the opportunity to quickly and easily interact with our consular department. The e-Visa is a first step toward e-governance in Armenia."

"The set up and implementation of such a project, as a specific category of e-governance, will be an attractive manner of showing to the world Armenia's innovativeness and openness to new ideas and techniques," said Joel Boutroue, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Yerevan. Boutroue will be helping to support this project.

The service will be available in October via: www.armeniaforeignministry.am, www.armeniadiaspora.com, as well as through Armenian embassy websites through the world.