As part of the visit to France, on June 28, the RA ESCS Minister Zhanna Andreasyan had a meeting with UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture Ernesto Ottone at UNESCO headquarters.

RA ESCS Deputy Minister Arayik Khzmalyan, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to UNESCO Christian Ter-Stepanyan, Head of the Department for Contemporary Art Svetlana Sahakyan, UNESCO officials ensuring the application of conventions in culture attended the meeting.

During the meeting, a number of issues related to cooperation were discussed. The Minister reaffirmed Armenia's support for the provisions of the final declaration of the “Mondiacult 2022” Conference, as well as the development of the UNESCO “Framework for Culture and Arts Education”. The importance of issues of cultural and linguistic diversity, the activities of the UNESCO Francophone group was also emphasized.

During the discussion, the Minister particularly touched upon the issues of Azerbaijan's destruction of the Armenian cultural and religious heritage and distortion of identity in Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories, including Azerbaijan's plans to turn the St. Hambardzum church into a mosque, which became known last week. The Armenian side expressed its deep concern in connection with the lack of the possibility for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to realize basic cultural and human rights due to the blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan. It was also emphasized that as a result of the blockade, the mobility of cultural figures is also violated. In this regard, the need to send an independent UNESCO technical mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the border territories of Armenia was once again highlighted.

Ernesto Ottone highly appreciated UNESCO's cooperation with Armenia, emphasizing Armenia's active participation and support in the study of cultural heritage in the region, the implementation of technical missions and participation in restoration work.

On the same day, the ESCS Minister had a meeting with UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini. The Assistant Director-General expressed her gratitude for organizing the cognitive exhibition and conference dedicated to Nerses Shnorhali.

During the meeting, issues of global citizenship and human rights education, as well as the fight against racism, discrimination and hatred through education, the “Green Education” initiative, and the development of digital education were discussed.

Zhanna Andreasyan reaffirmed Armenia's decision to participate in the “Green Education” initiative. The Minister highlighted the importance of expanding the processes of digital education and digitization in the field of education, expanding the framework of inter-university cooperation, and enhancing inclusiveness in the education system.

The ESCS Minister noted the importance of ensuring peaceful education in the region and invited UNESCO to support this idea with active participation.

Touching upon digital education and the development of teachers' capacities, Zhanna Andreasyan highlighted the importance of supporting teachers in the border regions of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and engaging them in training programs. The Minister stressed that the rights of children and students to receive education are also violated: schoolchildren are often deprived of the opportunity to attend school, and students don’t have the opportunity to have access to offline education at universities.

On the same day, the delegation headed by Minister Zhanna Andreasyan visited the State Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations of Paris (INALCO), where they met with the head of the institution Jean-Francois Huchet, teachers and students of the Department of Armenian Studies. During the meeting, a number of issues were discussed, then the Minister toured the institute's library and got acquainted with ancient books in Armenian. The Minister presented the university library with the latest bibliographic edition dedicated to Nerses Shnorhali. During the meeting, an agreement was reached to contribute to the replenishment of the library fund, organize meetings of students of Armenian studies centers in Armenia, and promote the Center's research programs.