YEREVAN: The first Federal-led Australian Delegation to Armenia met with the leadership of the American University of Armenia (AUA) to discuss potential exchange programs and collaboration on other initiatives between Australian universities and the AUA, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).
AUA Provost Dr. Randall Rhodes, Vice President of Operations Mr. Ashot Ghazaryan and Vice President of Finance Mr. Gevorg Goyunyan greeted the Australian Delegation, which included three Federal Australian parliamentarians – Mr. Tim Wilson MP, Mr. John Alexander MP and Mr. Trent Zimmerman MP, one State parliamentarian from New South Wales – Dr. Hugh McDermott MP, and five Armenian-Australian business leaders. They led them through a tour of the university.
The delegation visited the AUA Papazian Library, which hosts the largest collection of English language books in Armenia before being briefed on the key research projects currently undertaken by the university’s environment, health and mining centers.
Director of the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment Mr. Alen Amirkhanyan spoke about forestry planning and reforestation projects, with the goal to increase Armenia’s forest coverage from 11% to 20% of the national territory.
Executive Director of the Mining Legislation Reform Institute (MLRI) Mr. Varant Meguerditchian - formerly the Executive Director of ANC-AU - also attended the briefing, explaining how the MLRI has jointly undertaken research on responsible mining with the University of Queensland in Australia, and is now actively working to reform Armenia’s mining legislation.
Dr. Rhodes briefed the delegation on the AUA Turpanjian School of Public Health’s tuberculosis public education campaign aimed at raising awareness of the disease and reducing its occurrence in Armenia.
The meeting between the Australian delegation and the AUA was the first of its kind, paving the way for further cooperation between the AUA and Australian universities in various areas of research and the possibility of student exchange in the future.
"We thank our former colleague Mr. Varant Meguerditchian for helping facilitate this important meeting, which we hope will pave the way for partnerships and cooperation between the AUA and similar tertiary institutions in Australia," commented ANC-AU Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.
* * *
The Mining Legislation Reform Institute (MLRI) was previously based at the American University of Armenia’s Center for Responsible Mining. It currently operates as an independent Armenia-based NGO.
