YEREVAN (ArmRadio)—The Armenian Ministry of Transport and Communication has launched the .հայ domain, which will work along the English language .am domain name. Նախագահ.հայ will be the first official website to be registered in the Armenian script.

The current .am domain was assigned to the Republic of Armenia in 1994, and the Internet Society NGO got the right to register it the same year. The same NGO retains the right to manage the .հայ domain.

“The registration process started back in 2012,” Vice-President of the Internet Society NGO, Grigory Saghyan, told reporters. He added that “writing in the Armenian script is compulsory for the system to recognize the website you are trying to access.”

To access websites registered on the .հայ domain from abroad, an Armenian keyboard must be installed; Windows provides that.

The Ministry of Transport and Communication has invited all state bodies to register their websites on the .հայ domain. The cost is the same as .am—9-10 thousand AMD for registration and 1,000 AMD monthly service fee.

One hundred fifty applications have already been submitted for registration, 70 of which are government agencies.