Armen Sargsyan: One of the goals of the Armenian nation is to become  a leading technological and scientific country

ArmInfo. President of the Republic of Armenia Armen Sargsyan, who is on a working visit to the Swiss Confederation, in Zurich took part in panel discussions held within  the framework of the International Festival of Science and Art  STARMUS.

According to the presidential press service, world-renowned  scientists, astronauts, Nobel Prize laureates presented their views  on the agenda topics.

In his speech, President Armen Sargsyan, in particular, said: "In  order to live a full life, we must learn something new every day,  reveal, love and be creative. Any mission begins with a dream that  then becomes a strategic program, and the latter is a mission for the  whole nation. I am sure that we have a mission to make our country a  center of technology, science and education, for which there are all  prerequisites. " During the STARMUS festival, Armen Sargsyan held a  series of meetings with the participants of the event.

Thus, the President of Armenia met with the Director of the  Astronomical Institute of the Canary Islands, Francisco Sanchez,  discussed the possibility of cooperation with the Byurakan  Observatory. With the well- known Canadian physicist, the Nobel Prize  laureate in 2018, Donna Strickland Armen Sargsyan spoke about the  role of science and modern development trends. The interlocutors  stressed the need to encourage and inspire young people to engage in  science. As an example, the President of Armenia noted the scientific  achievements of Donna Strickland and considered her contribution to  laser physics to be significant.

Scientific and technical progress and prospects for cooperation with  Armenia were the key topics of the meeting between President Sargsyan  and the founder of Nest Labs and the creator of the iPod brand Tony  Fadell. For the global contribution to the field of information  technology in 2017, Tony Fadell was awarded the prize of the  President of the Republic of Armenia.

After the meetings, responding to a question about the importance of  STARMUS, President Sargsyan noted that the festival, which brings  together world-famous scientists, Nobel Prize winners, more than a  dozen cosmonauts (in particular, famous astronauts of the Apollo  mission), as well as world-famous musicians, is one of ways to make  science popular and attractive.

According to Sargsyan, STARMUS is a festival where art, science,  astronomy, great scientists, great musicians perform together. "When  you study the universe, except for scientific value, except for those  forms and methods that we use to understand the universe, you see its  other beauty, therefore, it is also art and in some sense has  absolute harmony that can be found in music "he said.

Speaking about competition between nations in the context of the  topic of scientific and technological development, the Armenian  President noted: "If a nation has a mission, then it collects all its  potential in one place to achieve this goal. I think one of our  nation's goals is to become a leading technological, scientific  country. " He noted with satisfaction that many children in Armenia  want, for example, to become programmers. At the same time, Sargsyan  expressed the hope that the children would also become scientists,  mathematicians, physicists, chemists, biologists, or specialists in  artificial intelligence, "because the future belongs to them." In  order for such professions to become attractive, as Sargsyan pointed  out, much needs to be done by the president, the government, and the  state as a whole.

Touching on his offer-invitation to hold the next STARMUS festival in  Armenia, the president noted that this is another opportunity to  present Armenia to the world community, so that Armenia becomes a  meeting place for world-famous scientists, Nobel laureates,  astronauts, cosmonauts, famous musicians from around the world. "I  hope that the 6th STARMUS will inspire our young people to be engaged  not only in music, art, but also in science," said the President of  Armenia.