Armenian Ambassador to the UAE, Vahagn Melikian, told Khaleej Times that the Armenian government is cooperating with the UAE authorities to stop human trafficking.
The countries recently cooperated to help bust a human trafficking gang when hundreds of women were sent to the UAE and forced to work as prostitutes. The gang’s leader and her two sisters were sentenced by a court in the Armenian capital Yerevan last month.
“We are in the process to finalise it soon. After this agreement we will be able to deal with the matter more efficiently,” Mher Mkrtumyan, deputy head of the Armenian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said “Our cooperation is not limited to human trafficking. We signed a judicial agreement with the UAE government in 2002 and began to cooperate in the judicial field. We have also signed an extradition treaty with the UAE.” There are 5,000 Armenians in the UAE of which around 500 are in Abu Dhabi and the rest are in Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates. They are engaged in real estate and other professions. Armenia has a population of 3.5 million.