President Vahagn Khachaturyan participated in the annual meeting of the NAS

President Vahagn Khachaturyan took part in the annual reporting meeting of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, during which he delivered a speech.

In his speech, President Khachaturyan touched upon the content and basis of the activities of the Academy and research institutes, as well as the principles of reforms carried out in the academic sphere.

Speaking of the role and importance of science in Armenia, the President particularly noted: “There is no doubt that Armenia’s path to development is solely the use of scientific opportunities and potential. I also share the opinion that all the Ministers of the Government of the Republic of Armenia should have been here, as today, science is linked with all of us, there is no development without science, and there are no resources other than people.

I am less concerned about the issue of merging or dividing the Academy, as we can find solutions in that respect. What’s more important is the content. It is more important to understand what we want, how we want science to be or why our scientific results don’t satisfy us.”

Speaking of the policy adopted by the Government, aimed at the support of science, the President stressed that the numbers and the analysis of state projects and financial allocations aimed at the development of science indicate that science is one of the fields the Government prioritizes.

In his speech, Vahagn Khachaturyan highlighted that the scientific community and the Government should try to operate based on the principles of mutual help and increase in productivity. “We have provided 6.8 billion to the industry of armaments, and if at least half of this amount serves its purpose, we are happy, and now I want to ask all of you to work in this direction. If there are ideas that will be useful to increase Armenia’s security, the military-industrial complex itself, there are financial resources to realize them, the state gives such an opportunity and places great hopes on science itself,” said the President.

Touching upon the issues of science effectivity, President Khachaturyan noted: “I want to understand whether the published articles we speak about, and I am also an author of articles, are effective or not, I don’t know, for example, how applicable my article is. I would like the articles that are being published to be applicable. The problem here is in the science–production–research institute triangle, how these links relate to each other.

In conclusion, President Vahagn Khachaturyan noted: “The government doesn’t have and never had the wish to oppose the Academy, it is a part of the Government, you are Government, and the most important thing here is, to be honest with each other, to openly speak about the issues. We, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, need you and we only want to hear about your achievements and success as much as possible. We are proud of you. I wish you all success in your work and may the annual meeting be fruitful. We should quickly resolve all the concerns that we have, so that you, the Academy, could use your potential not in discussing such issues, but in very specific cases. I see the specific cases that need to be done at least in a number of fields, and I think that at the next meeting, we will discuss the results: whether it is a scientific study, a formula or a scientific result.

Thank you.”