Armenian Defence Ministry sets up research institute

Mediamax news agency
31 May 04

Yerevan, 31 May: The opening ceremony of the Armenian Defence
Ministry’s National Strategic Research Institute named after Commander
Drastamat Kanayan took place in Yerevan today.

Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said today that Drastamat
Kanayan’s heirs came out with the idea of setting up the institute in
1998. According to the defence minister, taking into account Armenia’s
difficult geopolitical surrounding, the foundation of the institute
“was an urgent necessity”.

The Armenian defence minister’s adviser, Col Haik Kotandzhyan, will
head the institute.

The All-Armenian Ayastan Fund ordered the construction of the institute
which will be finished in March 2005.