September 13, 2013 – 15:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Eduardo Eurnekian was appointed the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) National Goodwill Ambassador.

Born 1932, Eduardo Eurnekian is an Argentinian-Armenian businessman. As of March 2013, he is the second richest person in Argentina.

On December 17, 2001, Eurnekian’s Corporación América signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Armenian government for the management of operations of Zvartnots International Airport. The company launched the construction of a new terminal which brought the airport into conformity with international standards. The total cost of the project was more than $50 million.

Eurnekian also unveiled plans to invest millions of dollars into Armenia’s agribusiness sector as he set up a joint venture with a local firm. Senior executives from Tierras de Armenia, a Yerevan-based company belonging to Eurnekian, and the Max Group (owned by Harutiun Pambukian, a parliamentarian close to former President Robert Kocharian), reported a $25 million joint venture to develop 60 km2 (24 mi2) of arid land in the southern Armavir region into fruit orchards and a fruit processing plant.

Eurnekian has built an almost $1 billion media empire since the early 1990s and is now the majority owner of a consortium operating 76 airports worldwide, mostly across Argentina and elsewhere in South America as well as in Armenia. He also owns 2,000 square kilometres of land and food processing factories in northern Argentina. He has been awarded as the “Business Man of the year” in 1995. In 1999 he received in Italy the “Leonardo Award”, given to the foreign businessman of the year. He also received the highest awards in Armenia for his activities. In 2012 he was awarded the Business for Peace award in Oslo, Norway.