RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan received Austrian Armenologist Jasmine Dum-Tragut.
The Minister welcomed Jasmine Dum-Tragut and highlighted the significance of her activities aimed at advancing Armenian studies. “Armenian studies is one of the important directions for the development of which we have initiated a strategy development process,” said the Minister.
Zhanna Andreasyan informed that since 2012, the State budget-funded program of teaching the Armenian language and Armenian studies subjects in foreign countries has been implemented by the Republic of Armenia. In 2023, it was implemented in 15 structures of 13 states.
Jasmine Dum-Tragut expressed gratitude for the welcome and presented the activities of the Faculty of Armenian Studies at the University of Salzburg, including forthcoming programs that are also connected to the Armenian cultural legacy in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenologist informed that it is planned to mark the coming year as the year of the Armenian cultural heritage, within the framework of which lectures, events, and exhibitions will be organized. Additionally, a preliminary agreement was reached with the “Matenadaran” Scientific-Research Institute to display the findings of research carried out in Syunik as well as images of Nagorno-Karabakh's khachkars at the exhibition.
The meeting discussed the avenues of making Armenian studies a more appealing and identifiable discipline, and the prospects for developing mechanisms for business trips or an exchange program in the personnel system.
In this regard, the Minister emphasized the significance of carrying out the ongoing collaboration with UNESCO to dispatch a fact-finding expedition to the region. The importance of including the preservation of intangible cultural heritage in the agenda was also emphasized.
ESCS Minister Zhanna Andreasyan informed that preparations are being made to incorporate Armenian culture, particularly the preservation of Nagorno-Karabakh's cultural heritage, into the 70th-anniversary celebration of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict in 2024.
Several other issues related to advancing Armenian studies were also considered at the meeting.