PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Center for National and International Studies
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 0033, Armenia
Tel: (+374 – 10) 52.87.80 or 27.48.18
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46
Email: root@acnis.am or info@acnis.am
Website:

1 April 2015

ACNIS MARKS 20th BIRTHDAY

Yerevan–Yesterday, March 31, the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS) celebrated the twentieth year of its
founding at the Armenia Marriott hotel here.

The solemn event organized in honor of the anniversary was attended by
current and former employees of the Center, Ambassadors of the OSCE,
United States of America, United Kingdom, Greece, Brazil, India,
Italy, Japan, and Lebanon, representatives of several other embassies
and international organizations, political analysts, public and
political figures, intellectuals, journalists, and other guests.

Father Partev Muradian of the St. Sarkis Church offered the invocation
on this special occasion.

Opening the program, ACNIS director Manvel Sargsian noted: `The
quality and quantity of today’s audience are testimony to the
long-standing respect the Center has earned from Armenian society and
the international community. ACNIS has been one of post-Soviet
Armenia’s successful projects, not least because its patrons have lent
their capital support to the development of an Armenian school of
political thought.’

Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first foreign minister and ACNIS
founding director, next took the floor to address the participants in
the ceremony with words of welcome. “From its inception the Center was
determined not to go the route of personality-driven policymaking, so
customary in the Armenian world, but rather to realize a methodology
of strategic thinking characteristic of an institutional structure and
thus to become a primary source of independent and critical research
and analysis. That is the model of vision for tomorrow’s Armenia,
where the key objective must be actualization of the supremacy of the
citizen’s fundamental freedoms, sovereignty for the state, and vital
interests for the nation.” He added that this trinity of precepts must
come together as firm guideposts to form the foundation of Armenian
national state-building.

The showing of a documentary film depicting the first two decades of
ACNIS and its work product was followed by the keynote speech of Garo
Ghazarian, a leading lawyer from Los Angeles who serves on the
Center’s board of directors.

“ACNIS was established in order to present to the body politic
unfettered, impartial and well-measured analyses, assessments and
geopolitical predictions anchored in hard facts, to evaluate the
developmental priorities and paths to progress of the new state from
the perspectives of national and international experience, to help
Armenia find its place in the region and the transforming world, and
to stand in support of the rights of each citizen.’ Ghazarian
concluded that every Armenian has been given three important
imperatives: to remember the past, to master the present, and to build
the future.

Raffi Hovannisian then returned to the podium to deliver the surprise
of the celebration, announcing and making a special presentation to
the employee of the decade. Thanking all the ACNIS faithful, he called
upon chief editor Gevorg Lalayan to receive the award in recognition
of his long years of dedicated service.

The official part of the evening, which was moderated by ACNIS
colleague Ashkhen Musheghyan and which was enriched by songs performed
by Hasmik Harutyunyan and Vahan Artsruni, came to a close with the
audience joining in the singing of the Armenian National Anthem.

The evening continued with a festive reception accompanied by the
enchanting rhythms of the Mikayel Voskanyan and Friends band.

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The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) is
a leading independent strategic research center located in Yerevan,
Armenia. As an institution committed to conducting professional
policy research and analysis, the Center strives to raise the level of
public debate and seeks to broaden societal engagement in the policy
process as well as to foster greater and more inclusive civic
knowledge. Founded in 1994, ACNIS is the institutional initiative of
Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Over the past 20 years, it has achieved a prominent reputation as a
primary source of multi-disciplinary studies covering a wide range of
national and international policy issues.

For further information on the Center, call (37410) 52-87-80 or
27-48-18; fax (37410) 52-48-46; email root@acnis.am or info@acnis.am;
or visit