The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia Vahram Dumanyan received Igor Maslov, Head of the Department of Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries of the President of the Russian Federation, who is on a working visit to Armenia.
The Russian delegation also included Sergey Kopirkin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia, Anton Rybakov, Deputy Head of the Department for Interregional Cultural Relations with the Russian Federation, Valery Chernishov, Dmitry Avanesov, Advisor to Department of Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries of the President of Russia, and Igor Ratushnyak, Second Secretary of the Russian Embassy to Armenia.
The Russian delegation arrived in Armenia to participate in the Eighth Armenian-Russian interregional forum. Armenia’s deputy ministers of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Arthur Martirosyan and Ara Khzmalyan took part in the meeting.
Armenia’s Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan welcomed the guests, noting that the scope of cooperation with the Russian Federation is very wide, from education-science to culture-sports. According to the Minister, the implementation of joint projects in the field of science is of special importance for the Armenian side.
Within the framework of cultural cooperation, the days of Russian and Armenian culture in Armenia, which did not take place last year and this year due to the pandemic and the war, have become a tradition. The Minister expressed confidence that they will be implemented in 2022 by all means.
Touching upon the issues on the agenda of the Armenian-Russian cooperation, Dumanyan stressed the support of the Russian side in the protection of the Armenian historical and cultural heritage under the control of Azerbaijan after the 44-day Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war in 2020, emphasizing that they are also universal values.
The Minister noted that the Armenian side is considering the development of the Russian language in Armenia and is ready to discuss proposals for new initiatives within the requirements of Armenia’s legislation. In this context, the parties particularly addressed the issues of increasing the efficiency of the Russian language teaching, curricula and textbooks. During the discussion, the activities of the Armenian-Russian University were also touched upon.
Dumanyan noted that it is one of the leading universities in Armenia; the governments of the two countries, as the founders of the university, should make efforts for the development of the university.
A number of issues related to bilateral cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture and sports were also discussed during the meeting.
