On April 3, while on an official visit to Addis Ababa Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, and the delegation headed by him had a meeting with Getahun Mekuria, the Minister of Innovation and Technology along with the representatives of the Ministry. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Getahun Mekuria exchanged thoughts on the prospects of cooperation between the two countries in the fields of innovation and technology.

Thanking for the warm welcome, Minister Mnatsakanyan noted: “We have come to Ethiopia with a very concrete agenda to expand and strengthen the relations between our two nations that know each other very well and have very solid historical bonds. And we are confident that based on this so deeply rooted friendship, we can build very resilient relations of two states and two peoples. You mentioned High Technologies as a key impetus to the economic development; we too share this prospect in the development agenda of our country and are convinced that smart development is the foundation for solid and sustainable development.”

The interlocutors referred to the practical experience and achievements of Armenia recorded in the field of creative education and digital agenda, namely the TUMO center for creative technologies, Armath engineering laboratories, Armenian National Engineering Laboratories (ANEL,) stressing the necessity to initiate joint programs for expertise-sharing in those fields.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan underlined that the inclusion of representatives of the Armenian IT field in the ranks of the delegation allows an exchange of substantial thoughts on the prospects and possibilities of cooperation with Ethiopian companies in the fields of IT, creative education, and e-governance. The Foreign Minister of Armenia also presented the preparatory works to the 23rd World Congress of Information Technologies, expressing hope that the Ethiopian side will consider the possibility of participating in that event.

Afterward, members of the delegation headed by the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Amalya Yeghoyan, the Director for Business Development of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF), Vahagn Poghosyan, the representative of the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises of Armenia and founder of Instigate, and Levon Babayan, Director for Business Development of IUnetworks, presented sectoral reports.

The representative of the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises of Armenia mentioned that during the last five years, the Union had organized several reciprocal visits between the two countries with the aim of cooperation in the fields of education, science, and defense.

Namely, an agreement has been reached with the Ministry of IT to install Armath engineering workshops in fifty schools across Ethiopia. The Minister of IT expressed confidence that the future generation will not be deprived of the technological progress of the 21st century.

In his speech, the Director of Business Development of networks, Levon Babayan presented the prospects of cooperation with Ethiopia in the direction of developing an e-governance system, pointing out the achievements and transparency of Armenia in that field. Levon Babayan also presented the solutions of IUnetworks in the field of e-governance and their experience with its application in Armenia.

Within the framework of the visit the Enterprise Incubator Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Computer Sciences of the University of Addis Ababa. The Memorandum entails organization of joint educational research and academic programs in the two countries, cooperation between the two countries to implement joint projects in the fields of IT including the installation of Armath engineering labs in the University of Addis Ababa.