President Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech at the annual general meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, today. He said that formerly, especially from 2008 to 2009, the speeches in the National Academy of Sciences evolved around a single issue – the lack of finance. It is good that a self-estimation has been made now. He is very glad that process has brought up the same opinion they were of 6-7 years ago: “You should optimize, the existing means should be spent effectively. This is a direct imperative for the development of our science. Radik Martirosyan and I were having a conversation and he said – but the number is not too much. Yes, they are not many, the number is not the issue. The effective work of those people is the issue. The question is: if there are even 20.000 scientists in Armenia, I will not say it is too much, but I repeat myself, 20.000 is not the issue. The effective work of a few thousand is the issue. When we reach the result we expect, I think additional means will be provided by the Government. Generally, we have always been ready and we are ready now as well to provide any means if certain programs are in place, if those programs are grounded and relevant. Not a program has been in place. Of course, if there is a simple wish to be engaged in anything, it is understandable that we do not have a lot of means for that, but we are always ready to find means for any kind of realistic and relevant program. We have agreed upon it and we are going to continue the program funding. It is understandable that everyone is discontented with their funding, everyone considers his/her part is not sufficient and scientists in the Republic of Armenia are not the only case. Even in the countries having reached a high level of welfare, having reached a huge funding of science, everyone says the funding is not enough. This is the situation: the funding is always insufficient in all fields of life, not only in science. We should be able to reach the maximum by what we have.”
The President said they should be able to solve the issue of generation shift. He noted that it is understandable from the report that some changes take place, but he shares the opinion that problems might arise: “From this point, I will be ready to meet with a group of 6-7 and understand what can be done, if only we do not again come to the increase of the funding.”
The President said if every year an economic growth takes place like in 2017, the funding of science will rise too. According to Serzh Sargsyan, the Government, the public always expects an applied result and a balanced model should be found between theoretical and applied: “We expect we can find a suchlike model in the Republic of Armenia.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
