The advisory board adjunct to the RA Minister of Diaspora held its subsequent session on November 25. There were three items on the agenda.

Head of the Department of Information and Telecommunication of the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia Vaghinak Vardanyan delivered the Department’s annual report. Vardanyan mentioned that the Department had conducted 32 analyses and had updated and modified the official website of the RA Ministry of Diaspora in the reporting period. The “Legal Acts” section of the website has completely undergone structural changes (139 legal acts have been drafted and posted on the website in association with the Legal Department of the RA Ministry of Diaspora). The 2015 Fiscal Plan of the RA Ministry of Diaspora has been posted in the “Budget, Reports” section and 176 videos have been posted in the “Video Gallery” section.

The Department has especially focused on presenting the information policy of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, the main goals, objectives and directions of the ministry, as well as the past and current programs and their long-term goals. In the reporting period, the Department has digitized 37,500 pages of materials and 129 books and has posted them on the website. Nearly 750 materials have also been digitized and posted on the website. Nearly 700 materials and more than 950 new digitized photos have been posted in the Virtual Museum of the History of the Armenian Diaspora. More than 4,900 pieces of data have been collected from various sources for the electronic database.

The minister attached importance to the Department’s coordinated efforts, the operative provision of news and the active cooperation with pan-Armenian networks.

Head of the Department of Armenian Communities of Americas Roza Hovhannisyan delivered the Department’s annual report in which Hovhannisyan mentioned that Armenian artists had been sent to Sydney through the 2015 Program for Educational and Cultural Support to Armenian Communities to give the “Armenian Festival 2015” concert and disseminate Armenian culture and songs at Armenian schools and cultural centers. From July 15 to August 20, 2015, the ministry organized teacher and methodologist Astghik Balayan’s visit to Sydney where Balayan taught Armenia as a foreign language at Armenian schools and cultural centers and hosted a training course for teachers and students.

The RA Ministry of Diaspora has helped carry out charity programs. The Armenian community of Canada has provided the RA Ministry of Defense with warm socks for military units located on the border. The ministry has conducted monitoring of mass media in Armenian communities according to regions, and the materials have been sent to Hayern Aysor electronic newspaper. The ministry has added descriptions of Armenian communities according to regions.

Editor-in-chief of Hayern Aysor electronic newspaper Nayiri Meguerdichian delivered a report on the electronic newspaper. Meguerdichian mentioned that the Hayern Aysor electronic newspaper of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, as the major media outlet of the ministry, provides its readers with information about the events taking place in Armenia, the Diaspora and different countries, becoming one of the major links for the strengthening of relations between Armenia and the Diaspora and within the Diaspora. The website has Russian, English and Armenian sections. The newspaper is the only news website registered in Armenia with a Western Armenian version, and as such, it is an informative and cognitive website that interests all Armenians. The major targets of Hayern Aysor’s information policy are the major programs and events aimed at meeting the strategic objectives set forth for the Ministry of Diaspora, including the “Ari Tun” Program for homeland recognition of Diaspora Armenian youth, the “Diaspora” Summer School Program, the “Im Hayastan” (My Armenia) Pan-Armenian Festival, pan-Armenian forums and conferences, various contests and competitions, as well as comprehensive coverage of topics related to the preservation of the Armenian identity in the Diaspora, the identification and consolidation of the potential of all Armenians, the promotion of repatriation, the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and the consolidation around the Armenian Church.

The staff at Hayern Aysor collaborates with Diaspora Armenian academic and educational organizations and news agencies based in Armenia, as well as with community structures, pan-Armenian organizations, the media and individual journalists of the Diaspora. Besides posting news and other materials, Hayern Aysor also carries out other programs that have made the website more popular and have helped increase readership.

Summing up the session, Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan touched upon the activities of the past month, the flaws and achievements and attached importance to the close contacts and cooperation with all Armenian communities of the Diaspora and the need for the organized and coordinated efforts of all the departments of the ministry  in that direction.