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PRESS RELEASE

Friday, September 11, 2009

Americans for Artsakh Bring Negotiation and Government Public
Relations Skills to Karabakh with the Help of AGBU

In August, Americans for Artsakh (AFA) completed its third project in
a series of ongoing training programs for Karabakh government
officials. With each course increasing in complexity, the most recent
project focused on two areas of crucial importance to the nascent
state in this delicate period of its development–negotiations and
government public relations.

The diplomacy course was conducted at the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. Participants included twelve staff members from the
Ministry, two from the Office of the President, two from the National
Assembly, and two from the Karabakh Information Office. The Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU) funded AFA for this training
program. In addition, special assistance was provided by Karen
Kostandyan, Second Secretary of Multilateral Cooperation at the
Ministry and AFA’s Karabakh Coordinator.

The first portion of the course, called "Negotiations: Basic Concepts
and Tactics," was led by AFA Executive Director Sarah Ludwig. Ludwig
holds a certificate in conducting capacity-building programs in
post-conflict regions from the US Institute of Peace (USIP). The
students were introduced to basic concepts used in international
negotiations, and were then given exercises that used the theories and
ideologies in hypothetical conflict scenarios. Class exercises
included activities involving highly political topics: tribal
relations in Afghanistan, civic participation in Romania, media
freedom in Vietnam, and six-party talks in North Korea. Students were
given background material prior to the course in order to familiarize
themselves with the topics beforehand.

Several of the students acknowledged that such complex and sensitive
foreign subjects were at first difficult to conceptualize. Most
students had limited prior exposure to the geographical areas and
political situations presented in the "mock scenarios," providing a
great challenge in the beginning. However, as the course progressed,
students became increasingly able to find parallels between the
classroom scenarios and situations in their own lives. In one of the
activities–an examination of six-party talks on North Korea–students
were split into groups and asked to present an analysis of one of the
parties involved, followed by a question-and-answer session with the
group as a whole. "The class activities were very useful and
interesting," commented Armen Sargsyan, Third Secretary of Bilateral
Relations at the Ministry. "They helped us learn a lot of new,
different places." Marina Harutyunyan, Attaché at the Ministry’s
Information Department, agreed, "We very much need these courses for
our future work.. We need to be prepared to face our counterparts
[from other countries]. The classes were very helpful in this."

The second portion of the course was comprised of lectures and
exercises on the topic of developing the government’s relationships
with outside parties and individuals. Dr. Paul Dezendorf, a faculty
member at Western Carolina in North Carolina, led the series of
workshops. His lectures were based on classes he offers in the United
States. He will also be offering the same tutorials during his
Fulbright Scholar appointment at the Higher School of Economics in
Moscow this coming fall. Dr. Dezendorf’s opening lectures aided
students in understanding the eight categories of communications that
governments typically use in building relationships with their
external audiences, such as press relations and encouraging compliance
with the law. He focused on several areas that are particularly
relevant to the Karabakh situation, including public diplomacy,
dealing with the media, creating a "brand" image for the country, and
increasing tourism prospects.

Students also discussed areas of life in Karabakh that require
improvement. These include creating and refining media sources,
expanding upon the government’s ability to relate to the media,
enlarging potential tourist mechanisms, and the utilization of social
networking. Upon completion of the course, several of the students
chose to form a working group with the professor and agreed upon a
series of initiatives to work on and address during the next set of
courses, scheduled for spring 2010. Dr. Dezendorf has taken an active
interest in Karabakh, and he plans to correspond regularly with the
students in order to aid them in the fulfillment of their goals.

In addition, Dr. Dezendorf met with the Office of Tourism to discuss
collaborative research for the Office in developing "brand identity"
for Karabakh. His assistance will be based on former successful models
for marketing countries following a major crisis, such as
Slovenia. Ensuing projects will focus on improving the understanding
of how existing and potential audiences view Karabakh, and converting
that understanding into marketing ideas for the Office. Dr. Dezendorf
observed that Karabakh faces problems not unlike those faced by
countries in many other areas of the world. As he commented during his
visit, "[Karabakh] has a great deal of natural beauty, an energetic
population, and a focused and distinctive culture. These are
substantial assets that will be of great benefit in marketing the
country."

AFA plans to contribute with its government training courses on a
regular basis. The organization also offers courses in, among other
fields, law, public administration, and management.

Americans for Artsakh is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
organization established to preserve freedom, strengthen democracy,
foster economic development, protect the cultural identity and promote
the heritage of the people of Artsakh.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.