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YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Summit of Minds 2020 opened October 10 under the auspices of President Armen Sarkissian.
The second edition of the Armenian Summit of Minds is held remotely. 500 participants from around the world – including politicians, executives of major enterprises, political analysts, representatives of international organizations, are participating in the event.
“Despite the ongoing developments all around the world, including in the Caucasus, we decided to organize this conference,” President Sarkissian said in opening remarks.
“This won’t be a traditional three-day event, during which it would’ve been possible to admire the beautiful sights of Dilijan and other locations of Armenia. However I am hopeful that we will come together next year again,” he said, referring to the first edition’s venue in the Armenian town of Dilijan in 2019.
“We must address the main question – the world has indeed changed,” he said.
“Covid-19 impacted not only people, but economies, the relationships between countries. Today, our discussions will perhaps address two issues. First is C-19, the COVID-19. But we must also talk about C-20, that is Caucasus-20 – what is happening in Nagorno Karabakh, between the Republic of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, with the involvement of Turkey, it engages Armenia as well.”
Sarkissian thanked the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs – the United States, France and Russia, for brokering the talks and achieving ceasefire, and extended special thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
“I hope the cessation of hostilities will be the beginning of returning to the peace process,” he said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan