Hayern Aysor has already presented the activities of the Portugal-Armenia Friendship Association, which was established in the spring and was officially presented during an event held in Lisbon on September 26, 2016. The goal of the Association is to enhance the friendly and cultural ties and cooperation between the peoples of Portugal and Armenia, disseminate Armenian culture in Portugal and Portuguese culture in Armenia, organize meetings of cultural figures of Armenia and Portugal, publish newspapers and periodicals and enhance community life.

Throughout the past months, the Association has stayed true to its mission statement and has held three major events and meetings.

The first was the meeting with members of the factions of the three fundamental political parties of the National Assembly of Portugal, including the ruling Socialist Party, the Social-Democrat Party and the Christian-Democrat Party.

In an interview with Hayern Aysor, founding president of the Association Vahe Mkhitaryan said the Association has organized many major meetings during which it has presented its goals, programs and upcoming events. The participants of the discussion suggested establishing the Portugal-Armenia Friendship Association, which would be able to help establish friendly relations between Portugal and Armenia through contacts with the Armenia-Portugal Parliamentary Friendship Group in Armenia.

The Association is already planning on organizing meetings with members of three other political parties next year.

“We also intend to meet with the Speaker of the National Assembly so that we can agree on the activities of the Portugal-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group,” Vahe Mkhitaryan said in an interview with Hayern Aysor.

The next meeting was the president’s meeting with the Head of the Department of Economic Relations Abroad of the Ministry of Economy of Portugal. The Association and the Department have initially reached an agreement on revitalizing the trade relations between Portugal and Armenia by presenting the products of both countries.

“It was a great and effective meeting. The representative of the Ministry of Economy is interested in the Armenian market and really wants to see Portugal import Armenian products. The first step has been taken. Next year, we plan on meeting with the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia,” the president of the Association stated.

Vahe Mkhitaryan has also met with an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal. “During the meeting, we presented the Association’s future actions and expressed willingness to support the activities with Armenia since Armenia still doesn’t have an embassy in Portugal,” Vahe Mkhitaryan said.

The next major event was the conference devoted to Anania Shirakatsi and hosted at the university in the Portuguese city of Aveiro. The conference was held with the support of Head of the Department of Mathematics Helmunt Malonek, who studied in the Faculty of Mathematics of Yerevan State University (1969-74) and is fluent in Armenian.

In his speech at the conference, Helmunt Malonek touched upon Anania Shirakatsi, presented him as a mathematician and talked about Shirakatsi’s contributions in the field.

In his speech, employee of the Astrophysics Center of the University of Portu Vardan Adibekyan (former employee of the Observatory of Byurakan) talked about the development of astrology in Armenia, starting from Karahunj to Byurakan. He touched upon the contributions that Victor Hambardzumyan has made to the development of astrology in Armenia and the observatory that he established in Byurakan where astrologists have made discoveries that have become revolutionary in the field of astrology.

“The main goal of the conference was to present Armenian astrology in different eras, starting from the observatory of Karahunj to the establishment of the observatory of Byurakan and the present. The attendees were very excited as they were listening to the speech by Vardan Adibekyan, who told them about things that they had never heard about,” the president of the Association said.

The conference also featured the screening of a documentary devoted to astrology, followed by a question-and-answer session.

In his interview with Hayern Aysor, President of the Portugal-Armenia Friendship Association Vahe Mkhitaryan also talked about the Association’s upcoming programs and events.

Next year, at the Gulbenkian Scientific Institute, the Association will introduce Armenian scholars with the help of Armenian students who are employed at the Institute.

The Association will also organize a workshop devoted to the Armenian language and alphabet at the Language Institute of the University of Lisbon, and the University’s rector is already interested in the workshop.

The Association will also host a conference devoted to Anania Shirakatsi and Davit Anhaght at the University of Coimbra, which is the oldest university in Portugal. The Association will also organize an event devoted to Armenian music. The event will feature performances by the Konsonansia Chamber Choir (director: Yelena Ryabova) of the Portugal-Armenia Friendship Association and the choir of the University of Coimbra.