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October 5, 2006
ACNIS Celebrates Twelve Years of Leadership
With a Public Accounting
Yerevan—Today the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) marked its 12th anniversary of public service and award-winning policy research. On the occasion and in the presence of the Center’s professional staff, political scientists and analysts, media representatives and others, its officials presented an open report on ACNIS’s accomplishments to date.
ACNIS public affairs specialist Lilit Sarukhanian greeted the invited guests with opening remarks. “Today we will neither delve into academic discussions nor make geopolitical and domestic analyses; we will simply congratulate one another and jointly celebrate the birthday of our and your Center,” she said.
Next to congratulate everyone involved in the process was ACNIS director of administration Karapet Kalenchian. “Twelve years, clearly, is not a long time, but if we consider that our independent country is just fifteen years old, then that amount seems not quite as short,” Kalenchian noted. He also underscored that the fruits of ACNIS’s analytical mind are primarily aimed at unveiling and scrutinizing the developments taking place in, and the challenges faced by, Armenia and its neighborhood, previewing potential geopolitical scenarios and, in light of all these, planning a comprehensive strategy.
ACNIS director of research Stepan Safarian likewise offered his heartfelt words, and continued with a brief accounting of ACNIS’s twelve-year track record. “Our policy deliberations and analyses, whose key attribute is their transparency, have treated a vast range of realms and topics including global and regional developments; environmental and educational policy; the rights of the former residents of Yerevan’s Northern Avenue and Biuzand Street; conflict management and the Mountainous Karabagh process; the macroeconomic reality of Armenia and the family business; the nation’s minorities; and other societal imperatives,” Safarian said. In his words, the ACNIS-based National Public Opinion Service, which was launched a couple of years ago, has already conducted more than twenty professional public and expert surveys throughout Armenia, with their results publicized around the world in multiple languages.
“It is beyond any doubt that the Center’s founder, owing to his distinction and the prominence of his reputation, could have turned ACNIS into a one-man show, a phenomenon which we see around us very often. Instead, he built this institution from the bottom up, refusing to interfere with or put limitations on the independence and individuality of the human mind, and by his own example encouraging comprehensive, cutting-edge thinking and a free competition of concepts and options,” Safarian continued. He concluded that ACNIS has humbly served the highest interests of Armenia, its liberty and political culture, and every good idea that has arisen from the depths of society.
The invited guests and public participants then joined their ACNIS colleagues in a festive reception and a round of well wishes.
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 2006, the Center focuses primarily on civic education, 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
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