Category: News

 

 

 

Armenia will host an International Conference on women entrepreneurship “Vision of new developments” June 8-11. Laura Frati Gucci, member of the famous Gucci family, and the Princess of Kuwait, one of the 100 outstanding Arab women in the world, will arrive in Armenia to participate in the conference.

The conference is organized by AYWA (Armenian Young Women’s Association) & WENA (Women Entrepreneurs Network in Armenia) under the umbrella of FCEM (World Association of Women Entrepreneurs). Head of the Armenian Young Women’s Association Lilit Asatryan assures the event will be interesting and promising.

The conference aims to present the successful experience of women entrepreneurs from different countries, share the ideas and experience to establish a good basis for further cooperation among the local and international business women.

The conference is a good stage for women entrepreneurs to create new links with potential new partners, to find opportunities for investments in Armenia, to widen the network of women entrepreneurship on global level.

Particularly the encouraged areas for investment and cooperation are education, culture, energy, tourism, IT, (mining, textile, chemical, and other) Industry, agriculture. Conference also aims to identify the challenges in the entrepreneurship and encourage the strengthening women entrepreneurship communities on national and global levels.

FCEM members, other networks members, women entrepreneurs from different countries, representatives of businesses, state bodies, financial structures, international organizations, public sector, mass media, scientists and experts are invited to participate in the conference.

Participants of the 9th Bologna Process Ministerial Conference and the Fourth Bologna Policy Forum in Yerevan unanimously adopted the Yerevan Communiqué and the Statement of the Statement of the Fourth Bologna Policy Forum. The final sitting was chaired by Armenian Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyanand was attended by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.

The Ministers responsible for Higher Education and Heads of Delegation to the Fourth Bologna Policy Forum reaffirmed their cooperation in developing higher education.

“Political instability in many of the countries, a high level of unemployment and migration arising from economic and social crisis and lack of access to higher education are among the challenges that we are facing. At the same time national awakening in the countries is arising hopes of the people for more democratic and tolerant societies, providing opportunities for personal development, as well as development of quality higher education. Reforms of higher education should further the development of democratic culture and equip our societies with the knowledge, understanding and skills to help address the challenges we face. Protect staff and students in answering the academic freedom, integrity and autonomy of higher education institutions is a key to achieving this,” the Ministers said.

“Mobility of students and staff facilitates exchange and creation of new knowledge and helps to build mutual trust and understanding. The rapid technological developments will impact on higher education and the way in which it will be reformed,” the document reads.

The next Bologna Policy Forum will be organized in 2018 in France in conjunction with the Ministerial conference.

Garboushian Gallery will be presenting an exhibition featuring four contemporary artists of Armenian descent, entitled “1915,” reports.

2015 is the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Throughout this year, Armenians all over the world are commemorating the loss of their ancestors. One hundred years ago, the destiny of all Armenians was forever changed. Since then, the identity of Armenians has evolved into something new, and through the contemporary lens of these four artists, we are better able to see that evolution.

Sev Black, Kaloust Guedel, Alina Mnatsakanian and Samvel Saghatelian have been brought together by their shared heritage and creative minds. Very different in style, execution and inspiration, these four artists have led similar paths to a similar reality. All four artists have found their personal vocation of creative expression through their journey of self discovery.

Touching on themes of identity, borders, and societal critique, these four artists are brought together in the exhibition “1915” to express the contemporary vantage point of their heritage as artists.

Sev Black, also known as Henrik Khachatryan, creates politically-charged artworks in many different media. Although he started off as a writer, his passion for creativity led his expression toward a more visual form in the 1980s, including sculpture, photography, performance, and video. His works are part of the permanent collections of the Narva City Museum in Estonia; Panevezhiss City Museum in Lithuania, and Museum of Contemporary Art of Madeline, Colombia. Sev lives and works in Los Angeles.

Kaloust Guedel explores capitalism and excess in his minimalist and conceptual artworks. Reflective and symbolic, Guedel’s pieces explore the relationship between materials, metaphors, and the spiritual and physical boundaries of painting. The excess of contemporary cultures is of great interest to Guedel, and can be seen in his fascinating artistic explorations. His work belongs to numerous collections all over the world, including The Charles Saatchi collection of London. He has been featured in such publications as Masters of Today, Trends and was recently featured on the cover of New American Paintings. Guedel lives and works in Los Angeles.

Alina Mnatsakanian focuses her energy in her multimedia artworks on the themes of identity and borders. Having grown up in many different places, Mnatsakanian’s journey to self discovery has been complex and difficult. Her artwork is multifaceted and is based in research, giving real facts, information, and references substantial weight in her works of art. Utilizing painting, sculpture, robotics, photography and video as well as installation, for this exhibition, Mnatsakanian exhibits “One person died” which commemorates the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian genocide, one person at a time. The evolutive moving image is based on the repetition of the phrase “one person died” which is quantified with a counter. Garboushian Gallery is one venue out of 100 where this will be shown worldwide this year. Mnatsakanian uses her multimedia process to help create stronger links between different forms of expression and different concepts and themes to fullest. Mnatsakanian has received awards from The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and California Council for the Humanities, amongst many others. Though Mnatsakanian has lived all over the world, including in Los Angeles, she is currently living and working in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Samvel Saghatelian, also known as Sam Saga, creates many different kinds of work, including painting, drawing, installation, collage and installations. With a focus on emotional relationships and the personal reflections associated with nationality, identity and the human experience, Saghatelian creates work with a lyrical and narrative core at the base of his creations. His personal and political protest signs, designed as a visual hybrid text using both English and Armenian alphabets, will be on display alongside his narrative paintings in “1915.” Saghatelian was one of the artists representing the Armenian Pavilion in the 49th Venice Biennale in Italy. Saghatelian lives and works in Los Angeles.

The Senate of Spain on Wednesday has rejected the bill to recognize the Armenian Gencide tabled by Entesa, a political group active in the Catalonian region – with 130 votes against and 14 in favor, along with 68 abstentions, Daily Sabah reports.
The People’s Party was the only national political party that voted against, while the main opposition Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, Catalonian nationalist coalition Convergence and Union, Canarian Coalition, Asturias Forum and Navarrese People’s Union abstained.

 

The Vatican concluded its first treaty that formally recognises the State of Palestine, a move that gives legal weight to the Holy See’s years-long recognition and that drew fast criticism from supporters of Israel, Reuters reports.

The agreement, which the Vatican said aimed to “enhance the life and activities of the Catholic Church and its recognition at the judicial level,” comes days before Pope Francis is due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and is likely to solidify relations between the Vatican and Palestinians.

The text of the treaty, covering Church activities in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, has been concluded and will be officially signed by the respective authorities “in the near future,” said a joint statement released by the Vatican.

Abbas is due to attend a Mass at the Vatican on Sunday to make saints of two 19th and 20th century Palestinian-born nuns.

Vatican officials stressed that the Holy See had given official recognition to the State of Palestine since 2012.

The Vatican’s deputy foreign minister, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, said in an interview with the Holy See’s official newspaper that he hoped the agreement would indirectly help the Palestinian State in its relations with Israel.

Today, at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex, President Serzh Sargsyan took part in the opening of the Ministerial Summit of the European Higher Education Area and the Fourth Bologna Policy Forum.
The Armenian president delivered welcome remarks:

Distinguished participants of the Ministerial Conference of the European Higher Education Area,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honor to greet you on behalf of the Republic of Armenia on the occasion of this very important event for the European Higher Education Area.

The higher education is, obviously, the pillar upon which the knowledge-based societies are built. In this context, the Bologna reforms transformed the nature of the European higher education ensuring student mobility and establishing wide diversity of educational opportunities. It is also obvious that it is impossible to guarantee a competitive educational system without overcoming systemic problems both in Armenia and in the European Higher Education Area. Armenia had acceded to the Bologna process back in 2005, and by that it designed a new platform of cooperation opportunities with the European area and attained new mechanisms to take advantage of the best international practices.

Current economic and social issues are, meanwhile, serious challenges to the European Higher Education Area, and its common goals presuppose joint efforts and active engagement. For the developing societies, at this stage of advancing information technologies, it is more than important to apply compatible standards in order to address positively the labor market demands, as well as productive cooperation of the beneficiaries in the area of education.

The European education system represented by the Bologna process has made a significant contribution to the reforms carried out in various other regions of the world through numerous education projects, political and institutional dialogue. Assumption of the Bologna Secretariat by Yerevan back in 2012 had been an achievement for the Armenian education system, one that envisaged both responsibility and privilege. It provided the Armenian higher education institutions with an opportunity to share and practice European education values and get better integrated into this process.

Positive and progressive trends have been registered in our higher education institutions related both with the application of the European quality standards and student mobility. The Armenian culture of education, which originates in the antique times as a part and parcel of our country’s ancient history, has always presented itself to the world with its achievements.

The Armenian nation has exceptional esteem toward knowledge and education. That is, probably, due to its millennial history, throughout which it had been plundered, pillaged and persecuted, and its very knowledge and centuries-long spiritual and cultural heritage had been the only value that illuminated its path, and of which it could not have been deprived of. It is no coincidence that during the most difficult days of the Armenian Genocide Armenians had been saving books. Otherwise, we should have not possessed Matenadaran that is the warranty for the eternal existence of the Armenian nation.

Nowadays the creative talents of the Armenian nation, its contribution to the development of global science, arts, theology is being evaluated anew, and it both serves as a source of great pride and indebts us significantly. The last such wonderful event took place recently, when Pope Francis declared the Armenian titan of medieval thought Divine Saint Gregory of Narek, a Doctor of the Universal Church, one of the 36 greatest thinkers recognized by the Catholic Church throughout its 2000 year-long history.

Dear friends,

To build upon one’s own educational traditions today one needs accessible and adequate tools for contacts and communication throughout the whole European Higher Education Area. In that context the Bologna process-driven reforms significantly supported founding of a student-oriented system and efforts that provide the today’s younger generation with an opportunity to be well-equipped and competitive to respond to current challenges. Although we have not overcome yet all the obstacles we encountered but the accomplishments registered, and the will to achieve the global goals presupposes new cooperative signals and a more active stage of dialogue.

Education is not an aim in itself, and its vocation is to serve global values and goals. Today, in the 21st century we witness in the civilized world numerous acts of terrorism, violence and war.

Indisposition of human reason and values make such unacceptable manifestations inevitable. Therefore, education based upon spiritual, scientific and cultural content shall be directed at the neat development of the human resources in a broader context.

Dear attendees,

This year has been special for Armenia, Armenians and the whole civilized world: we have marked the Armenian Genocide Centennial, paid tribute to the memory of our innocent martyrs, and attempted to build a more secure environment for people and nations. We declare “never again” not to let such a horrible crime to recur, to preclude formation of an environment conducive to it as such, to transform general notions and precepts of humanity and civil coexistence, to build societies free of xenophobia. It is obvious that here education has a significant role to play, and it is the mission that you, distinguished participants, pursue.

I avail myself of this opportunity to welcome you, and wish you success with this Ministerial Conference of the Bologna process. I believe that important decisions you are going to make in Yerevan will have a positive impact on the millions of the European students, and all education beneficiaries, thus paving the way for new progress, economic development and stability.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Slovakia to participate in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the EU Eastern Partnership countries and the Visegrad Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland or Slovakia), Press and Information Department of the Ministry of foreign Affairs informs.

‪‎Armenia‬ hosts the 9th Bologna Process Ministerial Conference together with the Fourth Bologna Policy Forum on 14-15 May, 2015.

The Ministerial events will bring together 47 EHEA delegations, the European Commission, as well as the Bologna Process consultative members and partners. As a result of the 16 years of intensive work the EHEA became a reality and proved that in this globalized and competitive environment education is the key for sustainable development of the European societies.

Among other issues the 2015 Yerevan Ministerial Conference will attempt to identify the best ways to reinforce the Bologna Process in future and beyond 2020 and simultaneously strengthen the dialogue within and outside the EHEA.

“I stand by the principle that the EHEA is a platform where the differences of national values and diverse beliefs will facilitate to face the challenges of a new age. The EHEA was and should remain the platform where minorities are integrated members of societies with equal opportunities, and last but not the least that EHEA should be accessible to all who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue knowledge, understanding and determination to develop democratic societies that we need,” Armenian Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan said.

“Moreover, looking at the map of the EHEA there are still unrecognised territories where people are not exercising the advantages of the European education. This is an important issue since education should be without any discrimination and should provide solutions to the conflicts as a unique tool for the reconciliation and people to people relations,” the Minister added.

By Mark Swed

Armenia’s struggle for international acknowledgment that the extermination of more than a million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War was genocide has been the work of historians and politicians. But it is also a job for art, especially with the recent 100th anniversary of the first deportations from Turkey.

On Tuesday, Armenia was awarded the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for best national pavilion, “Armenity,” which addresses the Armenian diaspora. Armenia is also a musical nation, and on Tuesday, the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra made its first appearance in Walt Disney Concert Hall with “A Concert of Remembrance.”

Founded in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan 90 years ago, shortly after the country was incorporated into the Soviet Union, the orchestra had the reputation as a solid Soviet band while still maintaining its spirited national identity.

Nearly all of its artistic directors and principal conductors, as well as its players, have been and continue to be Armenian. An important exception was the twentysomething Valery Gergiev, who led the orchestra in the early 1980s.

The Disney Hall program, conducted by Eduard Topchjan (artistic director and principal conductor since 2000), represented both the orchestra’s Armenian and Soviet heritage. Splashy potboilers — the most popular numbers from Khachaturian’s ballet “Spartacus” and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony — opened and closed the concert.

It was a notably less ambitious, or commemorative, occasion than the imaginative and comprehensive all-Armenian gala program given last week in Washington, D.C., the orchestra’s only other U.S. stop on its first North American tour in 19 years.

But there was also Tigran Mansurian’s significantly somber Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, featuring an eloquent young soloist, Anush Nikoghosyan. The 76-year-old composer, who divides his time between Yerevan and Glendale, represents both to his country, where he is a national figure, and the international music community, the soul of Armenia.

 

A new agreement between Armenia and the European Union may be worked out at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga, Juris Poikans, Ambassador-at-Large for the Eastern Partnership at the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a press conference today, reports.

“At the forthcoming Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga the EU will provide support to Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova in the implementation of the Association Agreements,” he said.

“At the same time a special offer will be made to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus. We want to build relations on  the principles of equality,” the Ambassador said, adding that a special agreement could be worked out between Armenia and EU.

Poikans stressed that the forthcoming summit in Riga is an important event for both Latvia’s Representation in the EU and Europe, at large, as considerable changes have taken place on the European Continent since the previous summit in Vilnius in 203.

According to him, the declaration to be signed in Riga will outline the main directions of the Eastern Partnership policy for the coming two years.