Wednesday, 16 November 2005
In Tunisia to attend the second stage of the World Summit on the Information Society, today the Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan-headed Armenian delegation has participated in the ceremonial opening of the summit and the discussions of the first session. In their opening remarks, Tunisian President H.E. Ben Ali, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other speakers emphasized that the purpose of the Tunisian summit was to bring to a practical plane the 2003 Geneva arrangements and to take clear-cut decisions on such key questions as might be raised during discussions.
In first half of day, Mr. Margaryan visited InTel's pavilion and, following acquaintance with the company's recent achievements, the Prime Minister discussed matters of bilateral cooperation with the top management of InTel. Having stressed the importance of developing wireless, Wi-Fi and WiMax technologies in Armenia and considering that Intel was one of the leading companies in the world, Mr. A. Margaryan suggested considering the possibility of realizing in our country pilot programs with the use of these technologies that in his opinion could help solve the problem of Internet availability in the provinces of the republic. The parties also looked into the possibility of establishing training and educational centers for Armenian specialists, formulating academic curricula and, in collaboration with InTel, implementing specific projects in the field of software development. RA Prime Minister noted that the GoA would welcome any expansion of Intel's activities in Armenia. The parties have agreed to discuss the details of eventual cooperation during the next meeting in Armenia.
In the course of the day, the members of the Armenian delegation have also attended the presentation of an Armenian disk referred to as "Aram Khachatourian: life and activity," which was awarded the chief prize for the best interactive content. Later on, the Prime Minister attended an official dinner hosted by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Thematic discussions of the summit continued at the second and third sessions.
Then RA Prime Minister was interviewed by a local broadcasting company. At the request of the journalist, Mr. Margaryan presented his view of the summit and the questions discussed.
In the evening, the official delegation of the Republic of Armenia participated in the WSIS gala award in the big exhibition hall of Kram Palexpo, at which RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan among eight other heads of State and UN organizations handed over to the winners the prizes proposed in eight nominations covering e-science, e-education, e-government, e-culture, e-business etc.
The ceremony of prize delivery was preceded with the show of a film advertising the selected creations. Prime Minister A. Margaryan handed over the prizes for a number of contents in the category e-science as presented by software developers from China, France, Croatia, Japan and the Great Britain.
