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December 24, 2007
ACNIS Bids Farewell to 2007 With the Release of A New Yearbook
Yerevan—The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) today publicly presented its annual trilingual almanac, this year entitled “Armenia: The Imperative for A New Strategy.” The event brought together the yearbook’s participating authors, editorial staff, foreign embassy and mission personnel, political scientists, policy specialists, foremost scholars, and media representatives.
Held in the official reception hall at ACNIS headquarters, the program was opened by Karapet Kalenchian, the Center’s director of administration. “This new oeuvre is the product of an incessant creative exploration, by ACNIS staff and associating analysts, of numerous key issues concerning, prospects awaiting, and challenges facing Armenia today and tomorrow,” he said.
The next speaker, ACNIS research coordinator Syuzanna Barseghian, emphasized the shared qualities of and the organic connection among the articles in the almanac. “Though the research studies offered in the yearbook do not provide a panacea, they do suggest new conceptual approaches and alternative thinking that are indispensable in order to tackle the geopolitical issues which have a bearing on Armenia,” she noted. Barseghian then presented the contents of the almanac.
The 232-page compendium starts with an introduction by ACNIS founder Raffi K. Hovannisian in which he touches upon several matters of utmost importance. The introduction is followed by an article series devoted to current regional developments and actual socioeconomic topics. In their monographs, leading economists Tatoul Manasserian and Zoya Tadevosian, Center’s senior analyst Hovsep Khurshudian, Yerevan State University lecturer Aram Harutiunian, political analysts Davit Petrosian and Tatul Hakobian, and Syuzanna Barseghian look into the ongoing regional processes and propose avenues for resolving conflicts and domestic matters. The scholarly analyses and policy recommendations relate specifically to the settlement of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict; the Kars-Akhalkalak railroad construction project and potential regional developments; Armenia’s foreign policy and its relations with neighbors; the economic peculiarities of Armenia; the socioeconomic consequences of a “strengthening” Armenian currency, the dram, and the political suppositions with respect to a “weakening” dollar; and the demographic situation in Armenia. As long-established tradition, the anthology ends with a complete list of ACNIS’s strategic partners.
Words of appreciation were also delivered, and assessments offered, by member of parliament Stepan Safarian and many others. It was underscored that the main feature of the new yearbook is the variety of important themes it examines, the contemporary issues it raises, and the unique way of in which it presents these concerns to the reader. The almanac’s participating authors Tatoul Manasserian, Davit Petrosian, and Aram Harutiunian then briefly introduced the primary ideological benchmarks of their scholarly articles published in the compilation and also informed of their future projects. The invited guests yet again underlined the true merits of the yearbook and wished greater creative heights to its associating partners.
The editorial staff of “Armenia: The Imperative for A New Strategy” comprises the ACNIS team of editor-in-chief Gevorg Lalayan; graphic designer Vahagn Vardanian; and contributors Karapet Kalenchian, Syuzanna Barseghian, and Sayat Kuyumcuyan.
Founded in 1994 by Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K. Hovannisian and supported by a global network of contributors, ACNIS serves as a link between innovative scholarship and the public policy challenges facing Armenia and the Armenian people in the post-Soviet world. It also aspires to be a catalyst for creative, strategic thinking and a wider understanding of the new global environment. In 2007, the Center focuses primarily on civic education, democratic development, conflict resolution, and applied research on critical domestic and foreign policy issues for the state and the nation.
For further information on the Center call (37410) 52-87-80 or 27-48-18; fax (37410) 52-48-46; email root@acnis.am or info@acnis.am ; or visit www.acnis.am.
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