Suzanna Shamakhyan, the Vice President of Strategic Programming at the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST), speaks to CivilNet about the organization’s aim to make Armenia an innovation hub by 2041. Ms. Shamakhyan explains what are some of the obstacles to the tech sector’s growth, different cooperation initiatives that take place with international partners and what she means by a “technological leapfrog.”
-
Simulated Mars mission brings Armenia one step closer to space
AMADEE-24, a month-long analog training mission for a future journey to Mars, wrapped up earlier this month in Armenia’s central Ararat region. Managed by the Austrian Space Forum, the mission brought six analog astronauts to Armenia to carry out an array of experiments, backed by hundreds of researchers and staff from more than two dozen countries. Participants told CivilNet the mission has been a catalyst for Armenia’s burgeoning domestic space industry, which is now setting its sights on producing its own spacesuits, supporting its own analog astronauts, and setting up the region’s first space laboratory. Credits: OeWF/vog.photo
-
Armenians’ right to return to Karabakh: Why is Yerevan silent?
By Paul Vartan Sookiasian The Armenian government appears to be continuing to rebuff calls for the return of Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh, despite a growing number of key regional and global players pushing Azerbaijan to allow the more than 100,000 Armenians forcibly displaced last year to return to their homes. While many international players do highlight this “right to return,” the Armenian government does not appear to be raising the issue in its already very difficult normalization talks with Azerbaijan, instead seeming to focus on the importance of integrating Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians into Armenia. In sharp contrast, Artsakh’s former leadership continues to […]
-
Armenian Nobel Peace Prize
In this week’s episode of Insights, host Eric Hacopian unpacks the joint US, EU and Armenia meeting in Brussels. He also touches on the status of the Armenians imprisoned in Baku for over 6 months, including Ruben Vardanyan who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
-
Despite downgrade, Armenia remains most democratic country in region, says
By Mark Dovich Armenia remains the most democratic country in the South Caucasus and one of the freest countries in the entire former Soviet region, the Washington-based non-profit Freedom House has determined. In the latest edition of its annual Nations in Transit report, published Thursday, Freedom House found that democracy in Armenia regressed somewhat in the last year, though overall, the country remains slightly freer than neighboring Georgia. In the broader Eurasia region, only Moldova and Ukraine rank higher than Armenia. In this year’s report, Armenia received a rating of 3.07, down slightly from last year’s figure of 3.11, but […]
