AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone 212.319.6383 x.118
Fax 212.319.6507
Email [email protected]
Website
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 10, 2005
ARMENIA’S PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE THE FOCUS OF SUCCESSFUL AGBU YPGNY SERIES
New York, NY – On Thursday, March 3rd, 2005, AGBU YPGNY wrapped up its
highly successful “Armenia Past, Present, Future” series of events that
began on February 17th. A trilogy devoted to informing and stimulating
interest in the Republic of Armenia, the Thursday night events were
attended by a variety of Armenians in the greater New York area.
AGBU YPGNY Vice Chair and Series Coordinator, Ani Manoukian, was
impressed by the strong community support for the series. “In planning
this series, our primary goal was to bring young professionals
closer to the actualities of life in Armenia. We had anticipated
some interest by our peers but to see that people left each event
feeling more connected to Armenia than before was inspirational,”
she said. Manoukian added that the kick-off “Armenia Past” event, a
screening of Armenian Canadian documentary, “My Son Shall Be Armenian,”
was particularly emotional for many in the audience that had not yet
visited Armenia.
The “Armenia Present” panel discussion that touched on a variety of
political, economic and social perspectives on the current realities
in Armenia included Aaron Sherinian of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia,
Konstantin Atanesyan of the World Bank, former Fulbright Scholar
Nicole Vartanian, entrepreneur James Tufenkian, and financial
consultant Greg D. Krikorian. Presentations focused on both data
and real-world experiences. In addition to statistics presented by
Atanesyan on the country’s economic achievement, Tufenkian outlined
his success in establishing a chain of luxury hotels throughout
the country. Vartanian, the moderator for the evening, discussed
the efforts underway to build a civil society of strong national
institutions.
The final event tackled the question of “Armenia Future,” and
was presented by Dr. Noubar Afeyan, “Armenia 2020” Executive Board
Member. Established in 2002, “Armenia 2020” is an organized network of
individuals working to build a shared vision and prosperous future for
Armenia. “Armenia 2020” advocates interviewed over 1,500 Armenians
from Armenia and elsewhere to develop possible future economic,
social, and demographic scenarios for Armenia.
“We are obsessed with our past and I, particularly for the younger
generation, would love to talk about our future, and to have the
language to talk about our future. And the language of the future is
not necessarily dominated by all the things that happened to us in
the past,” Afeyan said during the introduction to his presentation.
Proceeds from YPGNY’s Armenia series will benefit the American
University of Armenia (AUA) Digital Library, one of YPGNY’s many
fundraising initiatives. AUA is an indispensable resource for the
institution’s students, providing them with access to hundreds of
publications. AGBU YPGNY will also be holding a March 11th mixer to
benefit AUA’s Digital Library.
AGBU YPGNY is part of a global AGBU YP network which seeks to provide a
forum for young professionally-aged Armenians to undertake educational,
cultural, social and humanitarian activities under the umbrella of
AGBU. For more information on AGBU YPs, please visit: