Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the 16th award ceremony of the State Award of the Republic of Armenia for Global Contribution to High Technologies, Armenian Government’s press office reports.
The event was also attended by President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachaturyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, members of the Government, and representatives of the high-tech sector.
The Prime Minister presented the State Award of the Republic of Armenia for Global Contribution to High Technologies to CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) Vincent Roche. In his speech, the Prime Minister congratulated Vincent Roche on receiving the State Award and noted that in the modern and technological world, the activities of our awardees are felt in our lives every day. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the importance of meetings and conversations with awardees in developing government policies. “When asked what the government of your country has helped you with, in all cases I have received one answer: education. The government has provided us with education: general education, higher education, postgraduate education. Perhaps our conversations with the awardees on the occasion of the award ceremonies also had an impact on the fact that we are now so much focused on education. Of course, our experience, knowledge, and practice have also led us to the following: today in Armenia there is practically no issue the solution of which does not lie through education, be it foreign policy, domestic policy, construction, the humanitarian sphere, or social issues," the Prime Minister said.
In the issue of overcoming poverty, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the importance of providing education, because poor relief changes almost nothing in the lives of these people, but on the contrary, receiving assistance becomes a normal thing for them. “In many cases, we have condemned the children of these families to poverty because we did not notice that there is no school in their village, there is no kindergarten in their village. And this is the reason why we are convinced that if we want to solve social problems in Armenia, then there is one way to solve the problem of poverty - it is education, because today we must look for the reason why 80 and more percent of people living in poverty in Armenia are poor in the education they received or did not receive.”
According to the Prime Minister, this award ceremony and the award winners force the Government to focus more and more on issues in the education sector. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the “Academic City” program and noted that, despite the disbelief of many, it will become a reality. “I hope that by the end of the year, by the decision of the Government, we will approve the Master Plan of the Academic City and proceed to the implementation stage.”
Once again congratulating the 16th laureate of the State Award of the Republic of Armenia for Global Contribution to High Technologies, Vincent Roche, the Prime Minister noted: “Your presence encourages us to be more creative, more optimistic, and to believe in our own strengths, following your example.”
