IAF PRESS RELEASE
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 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 |
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.
The event
was concluded on a very positive note!
MEDIA REPORTS: AZG by Inga Perosyan
