The advisory board under the RA Minister of Diaspora held a session at the RA Ministry of Diaspora on November 28.

Head of the Department of Information and Telecommunication V. Vardanyan delivered a report on the activities carried out by the Department in 2014.

Vardanyan mentioned that in the reporting period, the Department has made nearly 90 structural changes in all the language sections of the ministry’s official website and has added 2,800 new materials, and 3,500 photos showing the ministry’s activities have been formatted adequately and have been posted on the website.

The website meets the requirements of the Decision N 1521-N of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of 26 December 2013 “On Approving the Minimum Requirements for Official Websites of State Bodies on the Internet”.

The reporter attached importance to the technical updates and corrections in terms of content, which have helped eliminate the flaws. The materials have been reread and edited.

To record and consolidate the existing potential of Diaspora Armenians in science, education, economy, culture and other fields, the Department has developed and is operating a comprehensive electronic database that includes complete data and information about pan-Armenian and regional organizations, individuals and information resources of the Armenian Diaspora. In the reporting period, the Department has updated and is operating the Virtual Museum of the History of the Armenian Diaspora (www.armdiasporamuseum.com). To fill the gap of the quantity of Armenian literature and instructive and popular materials on the Internet, the Department has developed and is now operating the “Electronic Library” of the RA Ministry of Diaspora (www.lib.mindiaspora.am).

The RA Minister of Diaspora expressed satisfaction with the work done by the technicians and assigned to add more analytical materials and make them more targeted.

According to the agenda, Head of the Department of All-Armenian Programs A. Andreasyan delivered a report on approving the names included in the “Our Greats” Program for next year. It was decided to include Andranik Ozanyan (150^th birth anniversary), Daniel Varujan (131^st birth anniversary), Hamastegh (120^th birth anniversary) and Panos Terlemezyan (150^th birth anniversary). By the proposal of the RA Minister of Diaspora, the collective name of “the just missionaries” was added to the names.

Head of the Department of Repatriation and Research G. Arshakyan delivered a report on the research topics that will be included in the contractual (theme-based) funding for academic, scientific activities and research to be provided by the RA Ministry of Diaspora in 2015. The topics were presented and approved by the advisory board.

Summing up the session, Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan presented the activities that had been carried out in November and indicated the upcoming programs and events and the programs for next year.