High-Tech Council Created to Promote the Development of Information Technology Sector
   in the Republic of Armenia

It was the fall of 2000, when a group of
Armenian-American high-tech entrepreneurs
and executives got together to form
Armenian High Tech Council with the primary goal to promote and support the creation and development of technology-based businesses in Armenia.

The Armenian High Technology Council of America, Inc. has recently been incorporated in Massachusetts as a non-profit corporation and has applied for 501 (C) 3 status. During the past year the Council has held a number of informal meetings in the technology hubs of the United States with the purpose of attracting successful entrepreneurs who are interested in investing in Armenia and helping the IT development in the country. These meetings were held in Boston, Silicon Valley and New York. The key leadership of the group consists of about 20 members who are already actively involved in the Armenian high-tech industry and will be growing even more in the near future with prospects of operation in Armenia, Europe and areas of strong Armenian Diaspora elsewhere in the world.

Several representatives of the Council met with President Robert Kocharyan in New York City on September 5, 2000 during the Armenia Business Forum organized by the Armenian Development Agency and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations. The purpose of this meeting was to encourage the prominent Diasporans to invest in Armenia and bring workplaces to halt the devastating emigration. The Council members were highly enthused by the President's recognition of the importance of the high-tech sector and his readiness to show any type of support for these types of investments.

In the course of the meeting, President Kocharyan invited the Council to send a delegation to Armenia during November 2000, for the purpose of investigating the information technologies and software investment market. A result of this trip was the Armenia High Technology Summit in Yerevan on November 8, 2000, which brought together more than 70 participants, all significant figures of the IT sector of Armenia. Armen Grigoryan, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade recently appointed by President Kocharyan as Coordinator of IT sector was invited as a keynote speaker. The wide ranging agenda of this conference was designed to identify pragmatic initiatives in all key aspects of high-tech industry development in Armenia: from education and IT professional training, to stimulating external demand, marketing, project management and export of software products.

The Armenian High Tech Council of America held a meeting in NYC during the Armenia Investor Conference organized by the World Bank and IFC during May 2001.