Armenia-ICBSS joint webinar

10 November, 2021

On November 10, 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) co-organized a webinar entitled “Cultural Tourism and Digital Transformation in the BSEC Region and Beyond: Lessons learned in the context of Covid-19 Pandemic”.

The event brought together high-level government officials from BSEC member states, BSEC PERMIS Secretary General, ICBSS Director General, representatives of UNESCO, UNWTO, EU, Council of Europe, ICOMOS, USAID, tourism agencies, research, cultural and educational institutions, private sector and civil society from BSEC Region to stimulate the discussion and exchange of good practices and lessons learned in cultural tourism, focusing on digitalization; explore the untapped potential of regional partnerships; enhance regional responses to, and recovery from the pandemic and build resilience for the future.

Welcoming the participants Mr. Arman KHACHATRYAN, Head of Multilateral Policy and Development Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and Secretary-General of the Armenian National Commission for UNESCO, particularly stated that Armenia is fully committed to collaborating and supporting BSEC's initiatives in elaborating creative strategies to reinforce the resilience of cultural tourism in crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. He continued that given the potential that digital technologies present for the culture and tourism sectors and the vast opportunities that they offer to the economy a coordinated and joint approach will be necessary to identify obstacles and elaborate effective and targeted measures to enhance not only the virtual cultural tourism but the sectors of culture and tourism in general.

Panelists presented their experience and successful projects, exchanged best practices in the field and discussed the national and international trends in terms of digitization and effective use of innovation tools and the impact of innovation on society in order to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic and strengthen countries' resilience in the post-pandemic era.

In closing Mr. Sahak Sargsyan, Permanent Representative of Armenia to BSEC, stressed that the regional stakeholders conference “Black Sea Synergy: the way forward” held in Athens, in November 2019 within the framework of the ENI East Instrument and the current webinar set the basis for continuing similar events in the future and informed about the co-organizers’ intention to put together a follow-up regional workshop next year in Yerevan.

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