YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian, foreign diplomats and other dignitaries attended today the official inauguration of the European Regional Academy for the Caucasus in Yerevan.
The Academy has been founded on the basis of an agreement between the Armenian government and several educational establishments in Europe. Its main objectives are providing retraining courses for specialists of different areas from the region, which is expected also to help build grounds for promoting dialogue and cooperation among the region’s nations.
Within the Academy there will be acting the European regional institute of high technologies, whose aim is to organize an educational curriculum aimed to develop new technologies.
In his remarks president Kocharian said the new Academy would be an efficient tool to turn Armenia into the regional center of high technologies, which, he recalled, was declared by the government among its other priorities. Kocharian also said that the Academy will promote Armenia’s education system’s further integration with the European systems.
The visiting state secretary of France’s foreign affairs ministry Renauld Musilier said half jokingly that the initiative was doomed to be a success as it was originated by France and German, “the two nations who used to fight with one another for centuries but now live peacefully side by side.”
Germany’s ambassador Hans-Wulf Bartels said despite earlier apprehensions that the idea might fail, due to the intensive cooperation between France, Armenia and Germany it turned out a success.
Italian ambassador Andrea Trabalza again half-jokingly said they were witnessing building of the United States of Europe. “It is perhaps an exaggeration to call this initiative building United States of Europe, but no one can deny its importance. We have to collaborate closely to fight and overcome contemporary challenges, such as terrorism, and because Italy, Armenia and other countries are all on the same side I wish success to this undertaking of paramount importance.” he said.
Secretary of the British Council Roger Bady drew parallels between Armenia and Ireland. The latter, he said, was 20 years ago an underdeveloped European country, now it is among the leading European countries in information and communication technologies.
“In the last ten years Ireland doubled its national wealth due to developing IT,” he said, adding there were surprising similarities between the people in Armenian and Ireland.
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