Yervand Zakharyan

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Yervand Zakharyan (Armenian: Երվանդ Զախարյան; born May 14, 1946^[1]) is an Armenian politician and the current mayor of the Armenian capital Yerevan. He is a member of the country's Republican Party and is the 8th mayor of the Armenian capital since Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Zakharyan was born in the village of Saler in the Shamkir region of the Azerbaijan SSR.^[1] He worked in the Yerevan trust "Basemetalsconstruct" from 1962 to 1963 and as a rigger in the plant "Razdanconstruct" in 1963 to 1964. He served as an engineer and chief of the zone of the constuctional administration "Warmconstrict" during the rest of the 1960s, while simultaneously attending Yerevan Polytechnic Institute (where he graduated from 1968).^[1] He attended the Management Institute of the Moscow Academy of National Economy from 1987 to 1988. He completed his candidate thesis in 1991, obtaining a degree of candidate of science in economics. ^[1]

After Armenia became independent, Zakharyan assumed the position of Armenia's deputy minister of energy.^[1] In 1998, he became the Minister of Transport and in 2000 was appointed deputy minister of the State Revenues, then was overappointed the Minister of Transport and Communication. The following year, he became the Minister of the State Revenues and in 2002. He was then appointed mayor of Yerevan in 2003 and has held that position since.^[1] In 2006, he started the non-profit "Shushi Revival" fund to help revitalize the city of Shushi in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.^[2]

Zakharyan is married and has three children.^[1]