Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, together with his daughter Shushan Pashinyan, attended the official opening ceremony of the 6th International Science and Art Festival "STARMUS" at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan.

The President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan, President of the Constitutional Court Arman Dilanyan, Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Hambardzum Matevosyan, members of legislative and executive bodies, guests from abroad were also present at the event.

In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan particularly said,

"Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia,
Honorable President of the National Assembly,
Honorable President of the Constitutional Court,
Dear members of the festival,
Statesmen, culture and science actors,
Dear guests,

I welcome the holding of the 6th International Science and Art Festival "STARMUS" in the Republic of Armenia. Our government supported the idea of holding the 6th "STARMUS" in Armenia, because the goals of the festival largely coincide with the strategic vision of the Republic of Armenia. STARMUS aims to inspire, educate the new generation of researchers, strengthen and empower the inovative spirit. This fully aligns with our vision as we continually increase funding for science. In 2022, the state budget funding of science has increased by nearly 83%, we are implementing large-scale reforms in the field of education.

"STARMUS" puts art and science on one platform, wants to inspire new talents by attracting talented people, to bring science closer and closer to people and make it a tool for happiness. This is the vision of our Government as well.

We want more and more young people in Armenia to engage in science, research, and technology. We want that knowing more, creating more should become the mood of everyone in Armenia. "STARMUS" wants to formulate as complex and even unexpected questions as possible, and it is our vision that only by formulating still unformulated questions and answering those questions directly and honestly, we will be able to make Armenia the country of our dreams. And in this sense, this is a meeting at the right time and the right place for all of us.

This year the festival is themed "50 years on Mars", dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first mission to Mars. I must proudly emphasize that Armenian scientist-engineer Alexander Kemurjian was onboard of the "Mars-3" space probe sent to Mars by the Soviet Union in 1971, and the "Mars-3" space probe sent the first photo of the planet to Earth. In the sidelines of the festival, we also celebrate the 100th anniversary of our renowned compatriot.

But I want to note that we are doing this not only as a historical memory or tribute. The world today is living with an increasingly tangible agenda of facilitating, and most likely, colonizing Mars. And we want Armenian scientists and researchers to contribute to this civilizational mega-project.

Today, the world lives in the era of "James Webb", "Hubble", "Kepler" space telescopes. And we want Armenian researchers to participate in the processing of the data obtained from these telescopes and in the development and creation of similar new projects.

In this regard, I would like to emphasize the importance of the "STARMUS" festival in the fields of science, higher education and culture from the point of view of the activation of international partnership.

I hope to see many of the guests of the festival lecturing in our new university, educational system, performing on the stages of our country, involved in our research and scientific programs, and I also hope that more and more of our researchers will be involved in international scientific projects as a result of the festival.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the board of trustees of the festival, the entire team of organizers, participants and guests for being here and spending these days in our homeland. I want to emphasize and say special words of thanks to the co-founder of the festival, astrophysicist Garik Israelian, for his exceptional efforts.

I wish all of us full of scientific, educational and cultural days, new discoveries and new perspectives of cooperation."