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On October 13, at the initiative of the RA NA Armenia-Italy Friendship Group a discussion on Armenia-Italy Cooperation in the spheres of education and science was held, where the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Italy to the RA Giovanni Ricciulli, the NA deputies, those responsible for the education and science and students took part there.

Welcoming the participants of the discussion, on behalf of the RA NA Armenia-Italy Friendship Group the Head of the Group Koryun Nahapetyan noted that in October of the previous year those responsible for the sphere of the discussion dedicated to Armenia-Italy relations voiced a number of problems concerning the cooperation between Armenia and Italy in the spheres of education and science, which according to the agreement, will be comprehensively discussed during today’s event.

Mr Nahapetyan documented that during the last year the cooperation of Armenia-Italy Parliamentary Friendship Group with the Italian Parliament, the different spherical communities related to the Italian Embassy to the RA and Italy had been rather active. Within the framework of various events implemented by the Friendship Group Koryun Nahapetyan thanked the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Armenia and the Embassy of Italy to the RA for continuous cooperation and support.

He has noted that the goal of the debate is to have a picture on Armenia-Italy cooperation in the spheres of education and science, registered successes and existing obstacles, as well as to try to undertake steps in those spheres for the solution of the problems.

Mr Nahapetyan has assured that the Friendship Group is interested in and consistent for the dynamic development of the relations between the two countries and friendly peoples. From this viewpoint he has stated that the education and science are important directions and are of essential significance in strengthening of the relations and cooperation between the two countries.

The Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Artak Davtyan had opening remarks. He drew parallels between the two peoples’ historical and cultural values, talked about their similarities and commonalities. According to his assessment, this debate is an effective opportunity to raise the potential, which is not completely used. Mr Davtyan has expressed conviction that the debate is already successful, and it will be more useful if as a result of it, there will be distinct agreements on content issues.

In his opening remarks the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Italy to the RA Giovanni Ricciulli thanked the Friendship Group for organizing the event on the eve of the Week of the Italian Language in the World. In Mr Ricciulli’s word, the cooperation between the two countries in the scientific-educational sphere is implemented in a number of directions. He talked about the issue of Italian classes, noting the fact that the Italianis one of languages in demand in Armenia, is also conditioned by the historical and cultural many centuries-old ties between the two countries and nations. Touching upon the cooperation of the two countries, the Ambassador highlighted the implementation of the programmes boosting the teaching of the Italian in schools.

In the first part of the discussion the attendees touched upon Armenia-Italy cooperation in the sphere of education. The Member of Armenia-Italy Parliamentary Friendship Group Ruzanna Muradyan, the Head of the Foreign Relations Division of the RA Ministry of Education and Science Angelina Hovhannisyan and the President NGO Gyumri Youth Initiative Centre NGO, the International Expert of the European Union Erasmus+ Programme Artur Najaryan presented their observations on the issues of the sphere. They referred to Armenia-Italy cooperation and the perspectives of the development, the cooperation in the spheres of general education and non formal education, the inter-cultural communication and the creation of the Italian Cultural Centres in schools.

In the second part of the discussion the RA NAS President Radik Martirosyan touched upon the importance of the international cooperation in the perspectives of the development of science and presented his observations on that occasion. Afterwards the senior scientific researcher of the RA NAS Institute of Physics of Applied Problems, Candidate of Chemical Sciences Asatur Pashayan presented his report, which related to the naturalists of Armenian origin in Italy, particularly the activities of the chemist Giacomo Ciamician. The Deputy Chairman of the State Committee of the Science State Committee of the RA Ministry of Education and Science (MES), Candidate of the Physics-Mathematical Sciences Vardan Sahakyan also talked about Armenian-Italian scientific cooperation, and the Director of the RA NA ICRANet-Armenia Centre, Candidate of the Physics-Mathematical Sciences Narek Sahakyan referred to the activities of ICRANet in our country. The NA deputies and the participants of the discussion made numerous interpellations and presented many recommendations directed to the development of the Armenian-Italian scientific-educational relations. The representative of the RA Ministry of Defense introduced details on the cooperation in the sphere of military education, and the directors of schools and those responsible for the sphere talked about the expediency of teaching of the Italian language as a third foreign language in school.

Summing up the results of the discussion Koryun Nahapetyan thanked the attendees for the effective and interesting discussion held in the atmosphere of constructive atmosphere. He expressed hope that by the consistent and joint efforts of the RA NA Armenia-Italy Friendship Group and the attendees existing problems will be fundamentally solved and Armenia-Italy cooperation will further deepen and develop in the spheres of education and science.