ArmenPress
April 2 2004

KOCHARIAN CONFERS WITH INTELLECTUALS

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian
conferred today with members of an initiative group of intellectuals
who had asked him in a letter to set up a presidential commission,
composed of volunteers, to study the current problems of spiritual
and cultural life, develop proposals for their solutions and present
them to the authorized bodies.
The intellectuals praised the government’s policy aimed at
reviving the cultural life saying positive changes in this area are
obvious with a succession of cultural events, reconstruction of
cultural establishments and publication of books.
The president emphasized in turn that the cultural policy must be
extended from the capital to regions, adding that an extensive
project was developed to rehabilitate regional cultural
establishments.
Intellectuals said that concurrently with positive shifts there
are serious concerns over the intervention of low-quality artistic
values and overlooking of younger generation’s upbringing.
Sharing their concerns president Kocharian proposed first an
in-depth look into all relevant problems and search for mechanisms
for effective operation of the commission.