By the blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the third international conference of Armenian libraries kicked off at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on 6 October with the title “Preserving the History for the Future”. The conference was held with the support of the RA Ministry of Culture, the Mother See and the National Library of Armenia.

As reported by the news service of the Mother See to “Hayern Aysor”, during the conference, Director of the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Matenadaran of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Father, Priest Ararat Poghosyan and Director of the National Library of Armenia Tigran Zargaryan signed a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding. Within the scope of cooperation indicated in the memorandum, the two organizations will make their contributions to the preservation, development and dissemination of Armenology and the important task of providing youth with an Armenian upbringing and information about national and spiritual values, will promote the strengthening and deepening of relations between centers for Armenian studies, will digitize Armenian print documents, will create a digital library and will carry out programs for long-term maintenance of materials at risk through digitization. The memorandum also envisages “Master Classes” for librarians at the National Library of Armenia, visits of experts, as well as joint exhibitions and conferences.

Within the scope of cooperation, the Matenadaran of the Mother See will be involved in the creation of the “List of Armenian Periodicals” and a database of antique Armenian books and books of the early period.

A committee comprised of representatives of the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Matenadaran of the Holy Etchmiadzin and the National Library of Armenia will be created for the implementation of the indicated activities.