ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT SETS UP INTERNATIONAL EXPERT COMMISSION ON LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT OF YEREVAN PHYSICS INSTITUTE

Noyan Tapan
July 23, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. By the May 20 decision of the RA prime
minister, the Armenian government has set up the International Expert
Commission on the Long-Term Development of Yerevan Physics Institute,
RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian announced at a briefing
held prior to the July 23 discussion. According to him, the expert
commission is composed of internationally known scientists in the field
of physics from Russia, Germany, the UK, the U.S., and France. "They
must conduct serious studies and submit their conclusion to RA Ministry
of Economy within 2-3 days," the minister said. He added that based on
the conclusion, a report on directions of the development of Yerevan
Physics Institute will be drawn up and submitted to the government.

The Director of Yerevan Physics Institute Ashot Chilingarian told
reporters that "the world’s best scientists in in the fields of high
energy and nuclear physics" have been included in the commission. In
his words, they should determine the scientific directions of the
institute’s development and help the Armenian government understand
on what programs it is necessary to make investment.

The Chairman of the newly created International Expert Commission,
Scientific Head of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Resreach (JINR) in Dubna Yuri Hovhannisian
in his turn said Yerevan Physics Institute has hardly survived after
the collapse of the Soviet Union. He underlined that there is much
to be done to make progress in physics.