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Armenia-Diaspora Relations

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  • Armenia-Diaspora Relations

    STATEMENT BY H.E. VARTAN OSKANIAN
    MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
    AT THE FIRST ArmTech CONGRESS '07
    San Francisco, USA
    July 7, 2007


    I want to congratulate all of you, and especially Tony Moroyan and the
    committee that succeeded in attracting you here for what can only be
    described as a gathering of visionaries and futurists.

    This is the second time in a week that I've had a chance to address a large,
    organized group of specialists from Armenia and the diaspora, together. Last
    Saturday morning, in Yerevan, I spoke to 1700 health care professionals who
    were exploring ways of bringing their know-how to Armenia's health care
    institutions.

    I'm not a physician. Nor am I an IT professional, but I flew 20 hours to
    tell you what I told them: partnership among specialists and professionals
    is the way of the future for Armenia-Diaspora relations.

    Fifteen years and more have passed since we gained, or re-gained,
    independence. Since we are living this history and not watching it from afar
    or reading about it, the full import of this transformational event is not
    yet fully clear for us.

    Of course, there are already various assessments of this period. But there
    is one achievement that is unquestionable: despite the most dire, most
    restrictive, most acute social and economic conditions, to everyone's great
    astonishment, not only did we survive, but we competed with our neighbors,
    and, in many areas, we came out ahead of them. Armenian statehood is
    consolidated. We are on the path of democracy. We do have an economy that is
    consistently rated open and liberal. Each of these triumphs is a source of
    pride.

    Our triumphs, as well our failures, were created by all of us, together,
    inherited by us all, together, and like it or not, will serve as the basis
    of the agenda we develop together for our country's development in the next
    period of our history. No group should take credit for our successes, no
    group should be blamed for our mistakes.

    To move forward, we must acknowledge two important, new realities. First,
    domestically, all that we have achieved we owe to reforms that were the less
    controversial changes, particularly from the perspective of the economic and
    political elites and their interests. Let's not forget that those reforms
    were the most obvious. They succeeded due first and foremost to the
    resiliency of our people, faith and commitment in the future, and their hard
    work. Now, we have completed and exhausted those initial, straightforward
    transformations. Today, we need additional, deeper, indispensable,
    second-generation reforms which are more difficult to identity, formulate
    and adopt.

    Second, regionally, we managed to compete with and beat our neighbors in
    this decade and a half when our neighbors were still in the process of
    seeking their advantages. Today, the situation is strikingly different.
    Today, our neighbors' strengths are no longer just potential tools; they are
    already exploiting their real assets and reaping the benefits. Therefore,
    now that the nature of our competition has changed, Armenia must exercise
    the resiliency that is part of our national character to find or create new
    resources, in order to preserve our favorable position.

    Some of those new resources will come from Armenia, some from the Diaspora.
    None of those are under the earth, our resources are around the earth.
    Groups such as this are part of those new resources. You represent
    nationhood without borders. Or, more accurately, across borders. For
    centuries, the idea of our nationhood was uncoupled from both statehood and
    from territory. Today, we have statehood and we have territory. But our
    traditions, history, identity and connections - and of course potential --
    extend beyond that territory. "You don't belong to a place," William Saroyan
    once wrote, "until one of your family has been placed into its ground." With
    that logic, we belong everywhere.

    The Diaspora expands the geographic reach of our nation. It also expands our
    capacity. We thrive on synthesis. We soak up what others have to offer and
    adapt it for our own use. In turn, we create, innovate, contribute to the
    pool of knowledge that is modern civilization. In this increasingly
    knowledge-based global economy, the wealth of a nation is determined by its
    capacity for innovation.

    Our challenge - Armenia's and Diaspora's - is to enhance our capacity for
    innovation. Let's use the occasion of this gathering to commit to nurturing
    the innovators of today and tomorrow.

    First, we must invest thought and money in education: Capitalism has mutated
    in a way that puts a premium on a knowledge economy, on technologies, on
    individual skills and on flexibility in both labor and business. It is
    education that is going to produce self-reliant citizens and feed the
    knowledge-based economy that is the basis of the new capitalism. If our
    children used to learn for the sake of learning, now they must learn to
    survive. Our schools and institutions must do more than teach dates and
    figures, they must teach how to turn knowledge into an asset in order to
    enable us to compete in a globalized, shrunken world.

    To talk about education today means talking about IT and the internet, about
    bringing those resources to every school child - in and out of Armenia. Yes,
    even out of Armenia, because the Diaspora, too, needs educational tools that
    will disseminate and re-enforce our common culture. An online public sphere
    has already been created, thanks to Groong, and to a whole host of
    thoughtful, contentful sites, voluntarily maintained from Sweden to Orange
    County, which have managed to link our dispersed peoples, double and triple
    our population, and provide an easy, noncommittal, inexpensive avenue for
    action, without legislation, elections, taxation, transport burdens or
    costs. These, together with electronic media, offer new resources and new
    disciplines for the construction of our new modern selves. Together, we have
    the opportunity to imagine the world we want for ourselves tomorrow and to
    create it.

    In Armenia, within the framework of the Rural Development Program which we
    announced at the last Armenia Diaspora Conference, we want to enable
    comprehensive development in our vulnerable border villages. The borders of
    our country, today, are dependent on villagers who don't have water or gas,
    electricity or fertilizer. They also have never seen a cursor and can't
    speak English.

    We have a lot of work to do. Information technologies must play a
    significant role in our program to bring sustainable rural development to
    Armenia. For that, we need you. Don't build school buildings or construct
    water pipes. There are already generous donors who will do that. YOU help to
    devise a program that will provide our village students with computer
    skills.

    Second, to enhance our capacity for innovation, we must commit thought and
    money to research and development. This is a neglected area of
    Armenia-Diaspora cooperation. We have dozens of invaluable programs to help
    our orphans, but not nearly enough to support research and development.
    Institutionally, the cohesion, the linkages that are required between
    science, technology, education, economy and society are weak.

    I ask you to develop partnerships with our scientists to enhance their
    ability to innovate. Let's harness our age-old capacity for individual
    creativity, feed it and channel it back into our society. Some of the best
    of Armenia's scientific and technological community are here today and they
    will tell you, as I will, that if we have brain circulation, we won't need
    to worry about brain drain. If we can support and nurture peer-reviewed,
    peer-selected researchers and partner them with those with a deep knowledge
    of the home country, advanced western education, exposure to western
    management practice, experience in business, good governance and ethical
    conduct - we will reap achievements disproportionate to our reality.

    Dear Friends,

    Armenia has come full circle. Two years ago, we surpassed the production
    capacity of the Soviet level. I'm sure you've been told by other speakers
    from Armenia that we've been, for seven years, experiencing double digit
    economic growth. The prospects are promising and we believe this trend will
    continue. All this, as I said, was possible, because of our people's
    commitment, but also because of the domestic and regional stability that we
    were able to maintain all these years.

    Indeed, despite the unresolved conflict that is a part of our reality, we
    have not and we will not allow that state of no-peace no-war to guide our
    history. This determination has driven our growth of the last decade. Just
    as we will not allow an unrepentant Turkey to determine our agenda, we will
    also not limit our choices and options by the lack of a willingness on the
    part of Azerbaijan to enter into a lasting agreement. They do not want to
    acknowledge either the past, or the present. As a result, they are not
    interested in discussing a common future. The mental state of war persists
    in Azerbaijan. In Armenia and Karabakh, I am proud to say that OUR outlook
    is towards the future, towards an eventual peace, towards progress,
    stability and prosperity.

    Dear Friends,

    With determination, pragmatism and most of all, unity, we can develop adopt
    the right policies to identify and utilize new resources for the common
    good, and to assure our continued and comprehensive development.

    If yesterday, we dared to struggle and survive, today, we must dare to
    prevail.



    What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

  • #2
    Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

    PAN-ARMENIAN INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CONFERENCE
    By Aghavni Harutyunian

    AZG Armenian Daily
    10/07/2007

    World Armenian Congress Unites the Armenian youth

    On July 9-10 will take place the Pan-Armenian International Youth
    Conference in Yerevan, organized by World Armenian Congress - with
    the help of the Association of Youth Organizations.

    The Association of Youth Organizations, founded in 2006, unites 12
    youth organizations of 8 different countries of the world - for the
    benefit of the resolution of the Armenian national issues.

    5 working groups are formed to discuss the following issues:

    first working group - fair resolution of Karabakh conflict, the
    tasks of the Armenian youth in recognition of the Armenian genocide
    and those issues as the agenda of present political advocating and
    lobbyist works,

    second working group - tasks of the youth in the issues of
    strengthening of Armenian State system, social-economic development,
    and also overcoming of poverty in rural communities,

    third working group - the role of the Armenian youth as the bearer
    of the Armenian national character in the context of new challenges,

    fourth working group -development of Armenia-Diaspora and
    Diaspora-Diaspora further relations and the role of the Armenian
    youth in them.

    The fifth working group works on the organizational, structural
    peculiarities of the Association of Youth Organizations of the World
    Youth Congress.

    The speeches, reports and the members of the working groups of
    Pan-Armenian International Youth Conference are ready, and the list
    of the participants is already clarified.

    The reports of the Conference will present variously the theme of the
    Conference according to Deputy-Chairman of the World Armenian Congress.

    "The challenges of the 21st century in the globalizing world" report
    will present NA deputy, Doctor of Law Hranush Hakobian.

    "The Armenian youth and Armenia-Diaspora, Diaspora-Diaspora
    relations" report will present Deputy-Minister of Culture, director
    of Pan-Armenian Youth Foundation Arthur Poghosian.

    The themes of the conference are the issues that the Armenian youth
    of Diaspora are greatly interested.

    They are ready to do their own investments in the resolution of the
    Armenian people's issues.


    What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

      EACH ARMENIAN SHOULD CONTRIBUTE TO STRENGTHENING OF ARMENIA AND ITS RELATIONS WITH DIASPORA

      ARKA News Agency, Armenia
      July 9 2007

      YEREVAN, July 9. /ARKA/. Each Armenian should contribute to
      strengthening of Armenia and its relations with Diaspora, said
      the World Armenian Congress (WAC) Chairman Ara Abrahamyan during
      the international conference "Challenges of the 21st century and
      Armenian youth".

      He said that each Armenian should have strong faith in Armenia's
      welfare.

      "Everyone should realize that any actions should be directed to the
      achievement of national interests," he said.

      Abrahamyan pointed out that the main achievement of the conference
      will be to sign the Declaration which will become the basis for WAC
      action programs.

      "Thus we will make our contribution to Armenia's officials to
      build Armenia's welfare, and to Diaspora - to achieve all-Armenian
      unification," he said.

      He added that all the WAC programs should be directed to overcoming
      those global challenges that every Armenian within or outside Armenia
      faces.

      In his turn, WAC Chairman of the Association of Youth Organizations
      (AYO) Atom Mkhitaryan said that this is the WAC first conference which
      on the youth level will touch upon the challenges that Armenians all
      over the world face.

      "Despite the fact that youth movement in Armenia and Diaspora is
      on the level of formation and we intend to discuss ways of putting
      this movement into a scientific level, realizing global universal and
      all-Armenian challenges of the 21st century, as well as possibilities
      and ways of confronting these challenges," he said.

      Touching upon the approval of the Declaration, Mkhitaryan said that the
      document will be presented during the final session of the conference
      based on the results of discussions in task groups.

      According to WAC AYO Deputy Chairman Mariam Martirosyan, the event
      is held under the aegis of the WAC under the AYO initiative.

      "The conference will be conducted in five directions, in particular,
      contribution of the Armenian youth to the international recognition
      of the Armenian Genocide and fair settlement of the Karabakh problem;
      youth issues in the process of strengthening Armenia's statehood and
      social-economic development, role of the Armenian youth as careers
      of national features and Armenian identity in the context of new
      challenges; Armenian youth and prospects of developing Armenia-Diaspora
      relations; structural peculiarities of the Association of Youth
      Organizations," she said.

      300 representatives of 25 countries, such as Karabakh, Russia,
      Georgia, Belarus, the Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Brazil, Turkey,
      Romania, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, France, Holland and the
      USA participate in the international conference, held in Yerevan on
      July 9-11.

      The World Armenian Congress was founded in October 2003 as Union
      of Armenian Non-governmental associations and has an international
      status. The WAC objective is to strengthen relations between Armenia
      and Diaspora, contribute to Armenia's economic development and
      peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, as well as international
      recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

      The WAC Association of Youth Organizations was founded in 2006.


      What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

        JIVAN MOVSISIAN: IF INVESTMENTS ARE MADE IN ARMENIAN VILLAGES, IMMIGRATION WILL BE REGISTERED IN 5-10 YEARS

        Noyan Tapan
        Armenians Today
        Jul 11 2007

        YEREVAN, JULY 11, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. One of the most
        important goals of the All Armenian International Youth two-day
        Conference of the World Armenian Congress (WAC) is to find ways of
        solving the problems of rural communities. Jivan Movsisian, the Head of
        the Agency for Contacts with the Diaspora of the RA Foreign Ministry,
        said this at the second sitting of the conference held on July 10. In
        his words, to register progress in Armenian rural communities, the
        problems of development of infrastructures, educational institutions,
        cultural centers, medical and service spheres, drinking and irrigation
        water, and others should be solved.

        J. Movsisian considers that the direct contact of the Diasporan
        Armenians with Armenian rural communities will greatly promote
        solutions to the above mentioned problems, while, as he said, "our
        compatriots' visits to the homeland are only limited to the city of
        Yerevan." He said that if investments are made in rural communities,
        in a short time, in 5-10 years, immigration will be registered in
        Armenian villages.

        In J. Movsisian's words, the development programs of agricultural
        sphere worked out jointly with youths as a result of the conference
        will be immediately used in 165 border villages.



        What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

          THE ONLY SCHOOL OF VILLAGE OF CHINARI BEING REPAIRED ON INITIATIVE OF AMERICAN ARMENIAN STUDENT

          Noyan Tapan
          Armenians Today
          Jul 11 2007

          YEREVAN, JULY 11, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The repaired school
          building of the village of Chinari, Tavush region, will be officially
          reopened on August 21. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by
          American Armenian student Nelly Martirosian, for the purpose of being
          of use to the homeland, she had organized a charity concert under the
          title "Let us build our homeland with our own hands" on August 12,
          2006 in the city of Glendale, U.S. The whole gain from the concert,
          43 649 USD, was provided to the village of Chinari, for repairing
          the only village school.

          In Nelly Martirosian's opinion, to make a contribution to school
          building is not only a duty, but also a sacred work for every Armenian.

          It is noteworthy that the 26-year-old student of California UC Berkeley
          University is going to return to the homeland after finishing her
          studies and to make her knowledge serve Armenia.




          What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

            Armenia and its Diaspora

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

              [I hope that the number of applications will increase faster than we think. Siamanto.]

              UP TO NOW 233 DISPORAN-ARMENIAN ENTRANTS HAVE SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS FOR STUDYING IN STATE HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF ARMENIA

              Noyan Tapan
              Aug 10 2007

              YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. 233 Diasporan-Armenian entrants have
              submitted applications for studying in the state Higher Educational
              Institutions of Armenia by August 10. These entrants are mainly from
              Georgia, Russia, as well as from the United States of America, Iran,
              Belarus, Turkey, and Lebanon. This information was provided to a
              Noyan Tapan correspondent by Amalia Kocharian, a chief specialist of
              the Sub-Division on the Relations with the Diaspora of the Department
              of the Diaspora and International Cooperation of the RA Ministry of
              Education and Science.

              She mentioned that 70 free places have been allocated for
              Diasporan-Armenian entrants by the decision of the RA government
              this year. Those places will be allocated to Art Higher Educational
              Institutions, as well as to those, having Armenological professions:
              mainly, Yerevan Pedagogical University named after Kh. Abovian, Yerevan
              State University, Yerevan State Academy of Arts, Yerevan Conservatory
              named after Komitas, Yerevan Institute of Theater and Cinema.

              Amalia Kocharian also declared that the applications of
              Diasporan_Armenian entrants will be accepted until August 20,
              and as for entrance examinations, they will be held at the end
              of August. According to her, the entrants, who will not be able
              to surpass the envisaged "positive threshold", can study in the
              preparatory department of the given higher educational institution.


              What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

                with out the aid of the armenian diaspora armenia would be in a worse state
                Մեկ Ազգ, Մեկ Մշակույթ
                ---
                "Western Assimilation is the greatest threat to the Armenian nation since the Armenian Genocide."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

                  [Children of Armenia Fund's official site : http://www.coafkids.org/ ]


                  COAF RENOVATES SCHOOLS IN LERNAGOG, DALARIK AND SHENIK VILLAGES OF ARMAVIR PROVINCE

                  ARMENPRESS
                  Aug 17 2007

                  YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, ARMENPRESS: Following the launch of its Model
                  Cluster Program, a unique and comprehensive development effort,
                  the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) continues to reduce poverty and
                  bring back hope to rural Armenia by rehabilitating the infrastructure
                  and improving the economy through a multitude of health, social and
                  educational projects.

                  The success of COAF's completed projects in Karakert, its Model
                  Village, has inspired the residents of neighboring Argina, Dalarik,
                  Lernagog, Myasnikyan and Shenik to plan their future with optimism
                  and zeal.

                  Just as the Karakert people did a couple of years ago, the Model
                  Cluster communities have enjoyed upgraded and qualified healthcare,
                  improved municipal services, and new business opportunities.

                  The students of Lernagog, Dalarik and Shenik will soon relocate
                  in their respective renovated and refurnished schools. Over 1,100
                  children will grow in a safe environment, guided by teachers retrained
                  in instruction methodology including child centered classrooms,
                  cooperative learning, thematic teaching, lesson planning, and other
                  related topics.

                  First in line is the Grand Opening of the Lernagog School, to be
                  held on August 27th. The superior quality of this reconstruction
                  project speaks for COAF's standards of excellence. The contractor,
                  Kanaka CJSC, is a Vanadzor-based construction firm highly qualified in
                  school reconstruction and renowned for product quality and work ethics.

                  The Lernagog School will accommodate 250 students and staff in heated
                  classrooms, laboratories, library, music room, performance hall,
                  and gymnasium.

                  During a visit to the school reconstruction site last month, the
                  principal benefactors of this school, Daniel and Henry Sahakians
                  expressed their excitement in these words ? "We had not imagined
                  the dilapidated building we saw a year ago would transform to this
                  beautiful edifice. We surely put our money in the right place." Next
                  in line is the completion of the Karakert Community Center and Public
                  Park, plus the Dalarik and Shenik schools.



                  What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Armenia-Diaspora Relations

                    A NUMBER OF BIG PROGRAMS PRESENTED FOR FINANCING BY VENTURE FUND MANAGED BY EIF AND CASCADE CAPITAL


                    Noyan Tapan
                    Aug 27 2007

                    YEREVAN, AUGUST 27, NOYAN TAPAN. With the aim of financing developments
                    of Armenian scientists, a number of big programs (the cost of each
                    exceeds a million dollars) have been presented to the board of the
                    venture fund (its authorized capital makes 1 million USD) set up by
                    the Cafesjian Family Foundation, NT correspondent was informed by
                    director of the venture fund's co-manager, - the Enterprise Incubator
                    Foundation (EIF) Bagrat Yengibarian.

                    Another co-manager of the venture fund is Cascade Capital investment
                    company also founded by the Cafesjian Family Foundation in Armenia.

                    In the words of B. Yengibarian, the presented programs are, in
                    particular, related to such sectors as biotechnology, IT, pharmaceutics
                    and precise machine tool building. He said that negotiations are
                    currently underway with several US venture funds in order to obtain
                    additional sources of finance.

                    B. Yengibarian reminded that the indicated programs were presented
                    during the first All-Armenian high-tech congress ArmTech 2007 in San
                    Francisco on July 4-7, in which representatives of a number of large
                    US venture funds took part.

                    To recap, the venture fund managed by EIF and Cascade Capital was
                    created in early 2006.



                    What if I find someone else when looking for you? My soul shivers as the idea invades my mind.

                    Comment

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