Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetyan reports:

“These days, I am in Washington as part of an official delegation led by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan.

As part of the visit, I recently met at the White House with my colleague, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Principal Advisor to the US President on Science and Technology Michael Kratsios, White House Senior Advisor on Artificial Intelligence Sriram Krishnan, OSTP Senior Advisor on AI and Technology Dean Ball, and Jonathan Askonas, Representative of the Policy Planning Division of the US Department of State.

During the meeting, Michael Kratsios presented the US government’s action plan and strategic goals in the field of science and technology. I, for my part, presented Armenia’s programs and priorities in semiconductor design, artificial intelligence, and research, including state development programs, the creation of the AI Virtual Institute, as well as the format of state support within the framework of the approximately $500 million investment program in Armenia by FirebirdAI in partnership with NVIDIA, which, by the way, has already applied for an export permit for the relevant infrastructure for the AI data center. I also proposed considering the possibility of introducing a mechanism to facilitate export permits in such cases, which we will discuss in a bilateral format shortly.

In parallel with the issues mentioned above, issues related to enabling the entry of new large American technology companies and services into Armenia were also addressed.