President Armen Sarkissian announced the opening of the Armenian Summit of Minds in Dilijan: The best thinkers of the world - in Armenia

The official opening of the Armenian Summit of Minds took place today in Dilijan.

In his opening remarks the President of Armenia welcomed the participants and guests of the Summit and noted that he was greatly honored to open the Summit of Minds in Armenia because the Summit has become one of the greatest achievements of the last 20-30 years. “It has become a unique think-tank which reckons about the future of our planet,” President Sarkissian said. “It’s been constantly held in a wonderful place, Chamonix, near the Montblanc mountain.”

President Armen Sarkissian thanked the founder of the Summit Thierry Malleret and his colleagues for moving the Summit out of Chamonix and choosing Armenia as the venue to convey it. “Each year, the Summit of Minds gathers under one roof 200-300 individuals from different corners of the world. The best thinkers of the world come together to ponder over the most critical issues of the planet. If you look at the logo of the Armenian Summit of Minds on this photo, you will see the Mount Ararat,” President Sarkissian said. “When I think about the Summit of Minds and look at the picture of Ararat, it leads me to philosophical thinking. Mount Ararat is the symbol of Armenia. But it is also the Biblical mountain. The legend has it that thousands years ago, when the human race became more envious, stopped talking to each other and didn’t respect human ideas, quarrels and gossip spread all around, people were losing their faith and their God. Then God had decided to change it all and brought about the flood. Then God thought of Noah and trusted him to find trustworthy people and animal species, to embark them on Noah ark and make a new start. When I look at the new world, I notice the signs of the flood in many places. I see them in our behavior, in our conduct, in our attitude towards the nature related to climate changes. All that signals that we are doing something wrong. We are treating the nature improperly.

When I look at the global geopolitics, one thing is clear: uncertainties in the world are abundant. There are uncertainties about Europe’s future because of Brexit, in the US – related to the upcoming elections, in the Middle East, and many other places. Today, the world is full of new or recurrent ideas. A lot of populism, fake news, misunderstanding. Ultimately, what’s going to happen to the world? We are losing confidence more and more; we are losing the ability to talk. From that point of view, the Summit of Minds looks like a small ark. Today it’s not the Noah’s ark, it is an Armenian ark where people come to discuss how to save the world. And it is very important. I am very glad to have that small ark concerned with the future of the world here, in Armenia. What will it give Armenia? I believe it is very important to start listening what the world is saying.

The Summit of Minds needs to be asked the key question – what’s going on in this world, what to do and how to do it? These are global questions but they also relate to Armenia. Where are we heading to as the Republic of Armenia, as a nation; what and how we need to act? It is very important for us to know where the world is heading to, where it will be in 20-30 years, so that we design our program and chart our course, decide what we do and how we do it. It is important for Armenia. It is important because thanks to the Summit of Minds and a number of other summits, the world will learn more about us, while we will learn more about the world. Thus, thank you once again, Thierry, for this opportunity to bring the Summit of Minds to Armenia. I would like to tell our guests that this year we will be having two or three other major events in our country. Armenia will host great experts of the information technologies area, etc.”

The President of Armenia expressed hope that the Armenian Summit of Minds would become an annual and permanent event.

After the presidential remarks, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian made a statement. He too, welcomed the conveying of the Summit of Minds in Armenia for the first time. “Eventually, the entire civilization is based on one factor – human mind. In general, there are only two factors throughout the existence of our planet which influenced the planet Earth: one is the cosmic factor, the other is the human mind. Speaking about the main topic of today’s discussions – global and regional economic, investment trends, geopolitical developments, we see that the greatest investments in the contemporary world are made in area of the human mind. Today, the moving forces of the economy are the areas which are linked directly to the human mind. It has got to the point when the human mind is not satisfied with itself and the artificial mind, artificial intellect developing processes are going on in the world and this is, actually in the main economic trend of the world of the 21st century,” Prime Minister Pashinian said.

He expressed confidence that the 21st century is also the Republic of Armenia’s era. “This is also Armenian citizen’s era, the era of the Armenian nation because we believe that this is the era which will see the glorious rebirth of the Armenian nation. When it was the era of high seas, we didn’t have any; when it was oil’s era, we didn’t have any, when it was good luck’s era, we didn’t have any; when it was brutal force’s era, we didn’t have any. But know the time of the mind has come, and there is no doubt that we have the mind and actually our main course is charted, we need to develop our mind, we need to create conditions to allow our mind to develop, to express itself, to manifest itself, utilize itself, and get the opportunity to reproduce itself,” the Prime Minister of Armenia underscored.

The organizer of the event, founder of The Monthly Barometer Thierry Malleret noted that he was glad to organize the Summit of Minds for the first time in Dilijan. “We are confident that the contacts, which will take place during these three days in the framework of the Summit, will allow to get to know each other, generate new, including investment ideas which Armenia also needs,” Mr. Malleret noted. He underlined that all participants have the following responsibility as the basis for convening the Summit of Minds: They should leave the Summit with at least one new idea, one new friend, and one new project.

In the course of two days of the Summit, different thematic discussions will be held at the Central Bank’s research and educational center in Dilijan. Participants, who have achieved prominence and success in their area of expertise, will speak about geopolitical developments, high technologies, artificial intelligence, the 4th industrial revolution, entrepreneurship and innovation, priorities of the 21st century and dialogue of civilizations, risks and challenges facing the world. They will present their experience, knowledge and ideas and will learn about investment opportunities in Armenia.

For the first time in the history of the Summit of Minds, it’s been conveyed out of Chamonix town in France, and Armenia is the first country to host this prestigious international event.