RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia Arthur Martirosyan today participated in an online meeting of Armenian schoolchildren with the crew of the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft organized by the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Armenia to strengthen the knowledge of Aerospace Science and Technology.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Republic of Armenia Fan Yong, Head of the Department for External Relations and Diaspora of MoESCS Arkady Papoyan, and other representatives of the Embassy attended the event.

During the online meeting, Chinese cosmonauts who were on board the spacecraft communicated with the schoolchildren of the countries of the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization”, including Armenia, talked about their experience in space and answered schoolchildren’s questions. 8-12-grade 60 students from three Yerevan schools attended the event.

According to RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Arthur Martirosyan, the online meeting with astronauts is another opportunity to strengthen the Armenian-Chinese friendship, which is realized within the framework of long-term cooperation.

“Around 60 schoolchildren participating in the event will connect to the space crew and this is a great opportunity for them in terms of professional orientation and having bigger dreams,” said Arthur Martirosyan.

The Deputy Minister emphasized that the program is completely in tune with the logic of the STEM development and the reforms of general education: “By creating favorable conditions, we want to push our children to science, to develop the flight of mind and try to accomplish it.”

According to the Deputy Minister, Armenia started the dialogue process with the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization” of China in 2016 and has the status of a partner country.

“This is a good reason to emphasize our role in this Organization,” noted Arthur Martirosyan and added: “Driven by the philosophy of university autonomy, we encourage the introduction of advanced programs, such as the implementation of Erasmus+ and other tools.”

According to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of China to Armenia Fan Yong, the event is a good opportunity for Armenian youth to get acquainted with China's achievements in the field of Astronautics and acquire new knowledge.

“Armenia and China are good partners, hence, we want to share China's development experience with Armenia. I think this will contribute to enhancing the interest of Armenian youth in the field of Astronautics, which will also foster the development of the country in the future.”

The Ambassador emphasized that such events will also foster the advancement of Armenian-Chinese relations: “Armenia has already launched a satellite into space, so I think that knowledge in this field is also very important for Armenia. I would like to express my gratitude to the RA ESCS Ministry for assistance. I think that thanks to both sides, we will be able to generate greater interest in China and Chinese culture among Armenian youth.”