Our readers might remember in January 2012 IAF organized a
Group Photo Exhibition titled “India through the Armenian lens” which took
place at Naregatsi Art Institute and lasted 10 days instead of planned 3 days
due to many requests.
Taking into consideration the great success and response
that had the exhibition as well as realizing the importance to keep the
population of other parts of Armenia too informed about the activities our NGO
is trying to realize, we decided to take the same Photo-Exhibition to other
parts of Armenia and in that series IAF decided to take it to Gyumri, the second
largest city in Armenia.
The exhibition was organized in collaboration with Gyumri
branch of Kasa Foundation. The opening ceremony of the exhibition took place at
the Kasa Community and Training Centre Gyumri on June 15th,
2013.
Honourable Ambassador of India to
the Republic of Armenia Dr Suresh Babu and Mayor of Gyumri Mr Samvel Balasanyan
were invited to grace the event as eminent guests.
The ceremony started with national anthems of both the countries which were
followed by Indian tradition of lamp lighting.
The president of Indo-Armenian Friendship
NGO welcomed the guests and the visitors and introduced them the aim and
significance of organizing the exhibition. The distinguished guests greeted the
organizers and expressed their gratitude for organizing such events especially out
of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia.
The representative of Kasa Foundation Ms Susanna Grigoryan in her
welcome speech to the visitors and the guests ensured everyone that in future
also there will be collaborations with IAF.
Welcome speeches were followed by wonderful performance of
traditional Armenian dances by “Sasun” folk dance group and a surprise
performance of a Hindi song by an IAF member Felix Gharibyan.
The goal of this Photo Exhibition was to represent the
cultural and historical marvels of India shot by common travellers from Armenia
to India. Every year many travellers visit India in different capacity, be it
as tourists, as students or as businessmen. They visit India and bring memories
back to Armenia. It’s their view of India which they see through their camera
lens and share with their loved ones. And through these images India enters
into the heart of Armenian people. This way we are emphasizing the very
quintessence of people-to-people connection between two great ancient
civilizations of the world.
This time
the collection of the photographs was supplemented by collages made by Ms
Marine Papyan which she made in India while organizing a visit of four Armenian
artists to India in November 2012 by the invitation of Indian Council for
Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs.
The show continued till yesterday 22nd June, 2013 and is
planned to take place in other cities and towns of Armenia to spread the
message they are carrying to the entire population of the country.
On 17th
June 2013, Indo-Armenian Friendship NGO (IAF) organized a Round-Table
Conference dedicated to the theme “Indo-Armenian Relations: Challenges & Prospects” at Best Western Congress Hotel in Yerevan, Armenia. The Keynote
address of the conference was delivered by H.E. Dr. Suresh Babu, Hon.
Ambassador of India to Republic of Armenia.
The goal of the conference was to discuss
different prospects and their corresponding challenges between India and
Armenia in culture, trade, education, S&T, Sports and other relevant fields
in order to canvass a conductive environment for future relation developments
accordingly. The list of invitation included Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Ministry of Education, Science & Technology, Ministry of Economy,
Ministry of Diaspora, Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, Industry
Associations, Businessmen, YSMU and YSLU University Representatives, UNESCO
Chair in Armenia, NGOs and other relevant serious stakeholders.
The conference was sponsored by Esculap LLC
from Armenia and Druck & Bindung Machinery Corp. from India.
During the round-table discussion, which was meant to be quite
interactive, Indo-Armenian bilateral relations was discussed in different
perspectives by different participants and stakeholders who are interested in
the development of these relations.
Before starting the discussion, Mr. Rananjay Anand, Co-Founder & President of Indo-Armenian Friendship NGO gave a presentation about IAF with
its brief history and activities so far. He emphasized that there is a strong
need to tap the hidden potential of Indo-Armenian bilateral relations, and IAF
could be one of the strong multiplying forces to facilitate the same, provided
they have strong support from respective Governments and industry associations from
both respective countries. According to him, the business exchange between
India and Armenia is not encouraging, which could be translated as strong
opportunities for interested businessmen.
Time to Look Towards East
While delivering
the Keynote Address of the conference, the Indian Ambassador Dr. Suresh Babu
reiterated that after the collapse of Soviet Union, Armenia entered into a new
phase and India was among the first nations that recognized Armenia’s
Independence and established diplomatic relations with Republic of Armenia. He
said, “Indo-Armenian diplomatic understanding on world platform is excellent at
different levels and we’re now working to take this special relationship to
advance level. Recently we’ve concluded 20th anniversary of
establishment of Indo-Armenian diplomatic relationship.”
Dr. Babu
highlighted the need of sending cultural troupe from Armenia to India, as the
main obstacle is lack of awareness among Indians about Armenia.
He said, for Armenia, it’s time to look
towards east, especially towards natural friend like India, which is currently
playing a leading role in world economy. India has many things to offer to
Armenia as her partner, be it knowledge sharing, IT contribution, Business
exchange, Education collaboration or even sports. India offers ITEC scholarship
for its developing friendly countries, out of which 40 seats are offered to
Armenia in a year, which is a great initiative for knowledge sharing with
friend countries. The scholarship is completely borne by Govt. of India. Apart
from that India has signed MoUs with Govt. of Armenia for Scientific research
exchange. He said they are planning to bring in all these activities and
information on website, so that Armenian participants could benefit from the
same. He emphasized that Armenians have one of the best brains in the world for
IT and S&T, with which even India could be benefited.
Mr. Artyom Khachatryan, MFA
He underlined
the fact that the weakest link between Indo-Armenian relationships is
Trade-Deficit. The need of the hour is to encourage mutual development of
business. He said both of the countries are looking for the ways to develop the
same on higher scale. But the biggest challenge is spreading awareness and
showing the real prospects of investments in respective countries. He said if
Govt. of Armenia could work out soon on a direct flight from Delhi to Yerevan,
it would sort out few business-related issues.
He said
Armenia is already contributing to India in medical field with many of Indian
students studying in YSMU. However, it’s time to look beyond allopath and take
forward the benefits of Ayurveda and Yunani (Greek) methodology offered by
India. He said Govt. of India is already offering scholarship programs in both
courses, which is fully paid by Indian side. Armenian students should be
encouraged to pursue the same, so that they come back to Armenia, open their
clinic and practice with recognition from Govt. of Armenia.
Mr. Mikael Narimanyan, Rector, YSMU
The rector
of YSMU, Mr. Michael Narimanyan complemented this proposal from hon. Ambassador
by saying that YSMU is ready to collaborate in any research offered by India
and they would like to know more about traditional and conventional medical
system of India.
Ms. Lusine Fldjyan
Ms. Lusine Fldjyan, the Vice Rector for International Affairs, YSLU after Brusov came up with few suggestions in field of education collaborations between Indian and Armenia universities, which was well taken by the participants.
“We will
continue to show our support to Armenia in a very humble way”, said Dr. Babu.
Mr. Eduard
Kirakosyan, Executive Director of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen
(Employers) of Armenia said that union members have already partnership with
few Indian businessmen but it’s time to develop more.
Mr. H.
Sarafian from Esculap LLC said that since 1996 Esculap is in business with
Indian Pharma Manufacturers. This conference may bring the confidence in
Armenian consumers, as they have a certain apprehension about Indian medicines,
but company’s experience shows that it’s in par with European standard.
Bollywood Shooting in Armenia
Mr. Rananjay Anand, the President of IAF and moderator of the conference
highlighted in his presentation with special mention of Tourism Development,
which is considered to be one of the the main strengths of Armenian Economy. He
cited the UNWTO report, which predicts, India will supply about 50 Million Outbound
Tourists by 2020, which will be the largest outbound tourism market.
He
suggested if Govt. of Armenia could attract the “Bollywood Industry”, the Hindi
Movie Industry, it would change the complete scenario of Armenian Tourism
Market. The idea was strongly endorsed by Dr. Suresh Babu, Hon. Ambassador of
India, who said it’s not only about Bollywood, but India’s Southern parts too
are very rich in movie making and they vouch for beautiful foreign locations
across globe, provided they get excellent support and subsidies from host
country. So even if that part could be tapped, it will solve the purpose. It’s
not only about destination promotion, but directly it will increase employment
opportunities for local Armenians too. But for all this Govt. of Armenia should
come out with a strong and concrete plan to woo Bollywood Industry of India.
Mr. Mekhak Apresyan, Head of Tourism & Territorial
Economic Development Department Ministry of Economy
Responding
with enthusiasm, Mr. Mekhak Apresyan, the Head of Tourism & Territorial
Economic Development Department from Ministry of Economy stated that they would
like to look into this matter seriously and would like to discuss it further
with all stakeholders to explore how Govt. of Armenia could approach this in
right direction.
Mr. Pankaj
Saxena, HOC, Embassy of India informed that Armenia’s neighboring countries
Turkey and Georgia are doing this excellently and they are already reaping out
the results. He said if a country like Afghanistan, could attract Indian
Movie-Makers, then Armenia is far ahead of them.
Ice-breaking conference
Mr.
Rananjay Anand urged all participants of the conference to speak and
participate frankly in order to address the real issues. The participants
responded well and asked questions related to business problems in Armenia,
education opportunities in India and many relevant issues to the
representatives from both sides, i.e Indian Embassy and Ministries of Govt. of
Armenia. In an answer to the question from a science enthusiast, Ms. Lilit
Vardanyan, from UNESCO Chair in Armenia and also in-charge of IAF’s Science
& Technology Club, said that she got scholarship from Govt. of India in her
scientific researches and she could do her researches in such a manner, which
she couldn’t find in even European Institutes and that helped her to contribute
back to Armenia in her research with Lake Sevan’s water project.
While
concluding the conference Mr. Rananjay Anand thanked all participants and
stakeholders and announced that this is just beginning. If they have support
from all stakeholders, IAF could come up with more events like this.
