RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan received US Deputy Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Rafik Mansour.

Artur Martirosyan, the Deputy Minister of ESCS, and Kristina Kvien, the US Ambassador to RA, were also present at the meeting.

Zhanna Andreasyan welcomed the guests and emphasized the importance of Armenian-American interaction. "We have effective cooperation in various directions; there are also new programs. This shows the quality of our partnership and the potential that can be used."

Highlighting the practical cooperation in cultural heritage protection, the minister referred to signing a memorandum between the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the US Embassy in RA for preserving and restoring the Basilica Cathedral of Yereruk in the Shirak region. Zhanna Andreasyan highlighted similar initiatives and thanked her for her continuous work and cooperation in this direction.

"These days, it is essential for us to consider the preservation of Nagorno-Karabakh's cultural heritage. There is a serious need for international tools and efforts. Moreover, the problem concerns both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The most important step in the direction of the preservation of material cultural heritage will be to send an international fact-finding mission to the region, which will be able to record the situation with the monuments on the spot," Zhanna Andreasyan noted, stressing that the problem became more acute after the events of September 19, 2023, when Nagorno Karabakh was violently expelled. After displacement, more than 5000 monuments and more than 20 museums are endangered in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the minister, since 2020, sending an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh, which could document the situation related to cultural heritage, has yet to be possible. Zhanna Andreasyan noted a need to increase the global visibility and awareness of the problem.

The minister of ESCS emphasized that the issue of preservation of rich intangible cultural heritage is also a severe problem because the forcibly displaced citizens from Nagorno-Karabakh have now settled in different regions of the Republic of Armenia.

Zhanna Andreasyan also referred to bilateral cooperation in education, noting that there are successful programs, and the results are more than visible. The minister of CGMS emphasized the participation of US and RA citizens in the educational exchange programs financed by the US government. "Last week, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of one of the successful exchange programs, FLEX, which has had a significant qualitative impact on the lives of more than 1,000 participants. I also emphasize our cooperation in inclusive education, which has significant results. There are excellent prerequisites for continuing our work in all these directions."

US Deputy Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Rafik Mansour thanked for the reception and noted that after his last visit to our country, he noticed several changes and positive trends.

"I am glad that the cooperation between our countries has significantly expanded. However, there is a much greater potential for their development," said Rafik Mansur, highlighting several jointly implemented educational and cultural programs.

The US Deputy Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs emphasized that the US Embassy in Armenia recently announced the launch of a new exchange program for Armenian journalists. According to him, 54 Armenian journalists will have the opportunity to visit the United States to participate in training programs that will improve their skills in removing disinformation and preparing journalistic publications within the framework of the "Armenian-American Journalists' Professional Cooperation Program."

The Minister of Education and Culture emphasized such initiatives, stressing that the role of media literacy is particularly emphasized by the new state standard of general education, and this will undoubtedly contribute to the provision of quality media and professional education.

US Deputy Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Rafik Mansour also highlighted the importance of combining efforts to preserve Nagorno-Karabakh's cultural heritage.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed other issues of bilateral interest, expressing readiness to continue joint program initiatives to strengthen and deepen relations between the two countries and peoples further.