President Serzh Sarkisian on Thursday bestowed Armenia’s highest state award, the title of National Hero, on Eduardo Eurnekian, an Argentine billionaire of Armenian descent who has invested heavily in the South Caucasus country.
In a corresponding decree, he cited Eurnekian’s “exceptional services” to his ancestral homeland and contributions to its economic development. The decree referred to him as a “renowned benefactor.”
A son of Armenian immigrants, Eurnekian, 84, has built a diverse business empire that includes over 50 airports in and outside Argentina operated by his Corporacion America group.
The company also runs Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport in line with a 30-year management contract signed with the Armenian government in 2001. It has spent over $160 million on building a new terminal there and modernizing other airport facilities since then.
The tycoon also invested in other sectors of the Armenian economy in the early 2000s. In particular, he purchased an Armenian commercial bank and set up what is now one of the country’s largest wine companies. The latter uses grapes grown at vast vineyards that were established by Eurnekian from scratch in the Armavir province west of Yerevan.
Another Eurnekian-owned company has managed Armenia’s national postal service for the past decade. In addition, the tycoon, whose personal wealth is estimated by the “Forbes” magazine at $2.3 billion, privatized in 2013 a historic building in Yerevan that housed the Armenian ministries of foreign affairs, energy and agriculture. He is due to turn it into a luxury hotel.
Eurnekian has also engaged in charitable activities in Armenia. As recently as on September 14, he inaugurated a newly built school in the town of Echmiadzin. President Sarkisian and Catholicos Garegin II, the Echmiadzin-based supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, also took part in the ceremony.
Only 16 individuals have received the title of Armenia’s National Hero to date. They include the French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour and the late Armenian-American philanthropists Alex Manoogian and Kirk Kerkorian.
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