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President Armen Sarkissian of Armenia participated in the opening of the 16th Eurasian Media Forum in Almaty, Kazakhstan, his office reported.

This annual forum, which this year is conducted under the title “The World Today: Transforming Reality?”, has gathered under one roof over 600 participants from nearly 60 countries, and among them state and political figures, economists, Noble Prize winners, entrepreneurs, and experts. Armen Sarkissian is a co-founder of the Eurasian Media Forum.

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russian Valentina Matviyenko, and the mayor of Almaty sent their welcoming addresses.

President Sarkissian congratulated those present on the launch of the 16th Eurasian Media Forum. He underscored that he had his input to the creation of the forum at the beginning of 2000s. “I could call this forum an institute which has a huge impact not only on the field of journalism but also on the concept of Eurasia and the entire media field. When I think of the Eurasian Media Forum, I naturally think of a couple of ideas, notions. First of them is called Eurasia. What is Eurasia? It is not only about geography but also a great history of civilizations born thousands of years ago. Some of them didn’t live to get to our times, some of them became truly powerful current civilizations,” Sarkissian noted. He underscored that today Eurasia is a major center of development and global events.

“Speaking of Eurasia, one cannot leave out Kazakhstan because today it is not only physically but politically and economically is located right in the center. It is not accident that the ideas of economic cooperation were born here and became a reality in the post-Soviet area. Eurasian economic cooperation has become a reality which, we hope, will become another bridge to serve the main idea we cherish: Friendship of the peoples, cultures, and civilizations. I want to see the day when the Eurasian economic cooperation and the European Union will start serious negotiations on a deep cooperation,” the Armenian leader said.

Armen Sarkissian spoke also about the second notion, the media, and noted that in recent years, the notion of the media has undergone serious changes. “Years ago, speaking about media forum, we would view that forum as a platform for journalists. But now, look how the media has changed in 20 years. Now, speaking of the media, we are not thinking of journalists only. I believe the future of the Eurasian Media Forum is the real media, the virtual life which we live.

“Each of us, several hours of our live, some even more, spend in the virtual realm, which has become much more comprehensive than simply news, journalism, or broadcasting. It has become part of our life. This is a small tool of the industrial revolution, or its product which includes information about our life, our relations, our photos, our banking, family, or economic ties,” Sarkissian said. He underscored that this virtual life is changing our perception of different things, for instance, when we engage in science, education, healthcare, economic as well as politics.

“The role of the media, virtual area has a great impact on the creation of politics, ideas, on their becoming a reality. The media, which we had 20 years ago, is not the one we are having today. The media has become the second virtual world in which we live. It is having a greater and greater impact on the real world in which we exist physically and in a sense, they are merging. Very important human values, including how we treat this planet, or democracy, have changed. We need to get ready for the world which we will have 20 years from now,” he noted.

And as the third notion he mentioned the forum and thanked the organizers, particularly, Dariga Nazarbaeva and the government of Kazakhstan. “Quite naturally, the forum are the people who created it. I would like to thank you all, all those who created this Forum, and wish us all that the Forum has a long life because problems we are facing, the humanity is facing are immense and are changing by day,” Sarkissian concluded.