Yerevan—Raffi K. Hovannisian, founding director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, and ACNIS senior associate Lilit Sarukhanyan were in Beijing between May 15 and 22 to take part in and address the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.

They offered Armenian approaches on “Asian Civilizations and the Development of Contemporary Asia,” underscoring Yerevan’s strategic placement—past, present and future—as a unique civilizational fulcrum of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

During the one-week conclave, ACNIS representatives met with Chinese officials and international participants, and visited a variety of research centers and academic institutions.

Hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and its National Institute of Global Strategy, this landmark Congress was also attended by several heads of government including Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, leading political analyst Stepan Grigoryan, and academic librarian Dr. Tigran Zargaryan.