The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan received today the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Martina Schmidt. Deputy ESCS Minister Arthur Martirosyan also participated in the meeting.

Vahram Dumanyan congratulated Martina Schmidt on assuming the post of the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Armenia and wished her fruitful work. The Minister highly appreciated the cooperation within the framework of the Council of Europe in the fields of education, culture, and youth and expressed hope that with the appointment of Martina Schmidt, the cooperation with the Council of Europe Office in Armenia will further advance. According to Vahram Dumanyan, the coordination fields of the ESCS Ministry are quite diverse, therefore, there are many programs and initiatives in the direction of which the Ministry is willing to expand the collaboration.

Head of the Council of Europe Office in Armenia, Martina Schmidt, informed that the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Armenia-CoE Action Program is scheduled in Yerevan on March 2 to consider the priorities of the program for 2023-2026 and outline the new fields of cooperation.

Among the existing fields of cooperation, Martina Schmidt presented new ones, in particular, the possibility of implementing joint programs to enhance media literacy.

Deputy Minister Arthur Martirosyan noted the importance of developing a strategic media literacy program, underlining that the development of democracy and civic abilities is included in the state standard of general education. He noted that the Draft “Education Development Strategy until 2030” has been submitted for public discussion, and it is possible to discuss the activities on improving media literacy in this document and the action program ensuring its implementation.

Sharing her impressions of Armenia's rich cultural heritage, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan noted that Armenia is currently on one of the European Cultural Routes and has the potential to be involved in a number of others.

In this context, Vahram Dumanyan noted that Armenia is facing serious problems related to its cultural heritage, both in terms of mapping and publicity. He also drew attention to the issue of the threat to the Armenian cultural heritage in the territories that came under the control of Azerbaijan after the Second Artsakh War.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed other issues of mutual interest.