Monday, 9 November 2009
“Arm Tech” as a possibility for reinvigorating and revising IT projects in Armenia
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s working visit to the USA is nearing completion. In the frameworks of Arm Tech - 2009 forum the Prime Minister met with the representatives of Renaissance and Mentor Graphics companies to discuss questions relating to their Armenia programs. Tigran Sargsyan also had a meeting with our compatriot, Senator John Simityan.
In his address to the gala event held in the Fairmont Hotel of San Jose in the framework of the Arm Tech congress, the head of the Armenian government noted in particular: “It seems to be obvious that “Arm Tech” should be further expanded and improved. We drew many lessons over the past 3 days. Firstly, we understood that contacts like these provide a good opportunity for our team to define the scope of priority actions. Some of our visions concerning Armenia’s role and upcoming efforts should be reconsidered, while others have proved successful and should be continued.
One of today’s addresses contained an interesting idea: “Today is the past, and the future is tomorrow. This sentence reflects the idea of rapid changes inherent in the modern world, and we must be responsive to such changes.” The Prime Minister said his stay in the Silicon Valley made it clear that the government’s IT programs need reconsidering as “they proved out of date pending effectiveness. We realized that we need some refreshment, the possibility of which is offered by this forum. Secondly, I was struck by an idea expressed during an interview with the representatives of a big company: it is up to major companies to come to Armenia, rather than the other way round. There is hardly any room left in this fast-shrinking world, and global companies are forced to compete in this filed.”
The Prime Minister’s third conclusion was the following: “Neither today’s nor tomorrow’s markets are at stake in the worldwide race of big companies for all vacancies seem to be occupied already to give a relief to the Blue Ocean Strategy: we have missed the train and ought to think of getting a competitive edge in our ocean.” Tigran Sargsyan focused on the question of where Armenia can be better poised in the future world: “No global company is supposed to think in our place as they should mind their own business. Therefore, it is up to Arm Tech to find an answer to this question.”
During his contacts and interviews, the head of government evoked the idea of the Armenian World: “The Armenian World has become a reality: this ever-changing and shrinking world demonstrated it clearly. We would rather focus on the future tasks instead of getting busy shaping it now as it is a fait accompli. We must clearly see the ways for changing our mentality and amending the traditional organization of the Armenian World and Armenia itself.”
The Prime Minister has also referred to Armenian Genocide, Homeland-Diaspora interaction, settlement of Armenia-Turkey relations. He took the opportunity to outline our country’s approach to RA President’s initiative for settling bilateral relationship. The Prime Minister’s remarks were given high appreciation on the part of the audience.
On the last day of the working visit, Tigran Sargsyan went to “Plug and Play” incubator of computer companies. He was shown over the company premises and briefed on its possibilities. The Prime Minister made an inscription on the wall of Honorary Guests. An arrangement was reached during the talks with company executives on cooperation between Armenia’s Enterprise Incubator Foundation and Plug and Play, as well as regarding the design and implementation of joint projects with Armenian partners.
