Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Shantanu Narayen, the president and CEO of one of the world's largest and most diversified software companies, Adobe, who was awarded the Armenian State Award for global contribution to the IT sector.

The Prime Minister noted that the decision to award the prize for global contribution in the field of IT is a high appreciation of Mr. Narayen’s achievements and noted that his experience in the field of high technology is exemplary for our society, especially for the youth.

Shantanu Narayen thanked Prime Minister Pashinyan for appreciating his work and emphasized that he sees a great future for the high-tech sector in Armenia. He expressed his willingness to closely cooperate with Armenian colleagues, presenting his experience and capabilities to them.

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Then, the 13th ceremony of awarding the State Award of the Republic of Armenia for the global contribution in the field of information technologies was held.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, Deputy President of the National Assembly Hakob Arshakyan, Director of "Synopsis Armenia" Company, Chairman of the Commission for Awarding Annual Educational Awards in the IT Field Hovik Musayelyan and others participated in the event.

In his speech, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted.

"Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia,
Dear attendees,

I welcome the regular state award ceremony for global investment in the high-tech sector, and I want to emphasize that this award ceremony is important not only for the recipients of the award, but also for the government of Armenia and the high-tech sector of Armenia.

Why are we holding this awards ceremony and what message are we trying to convey? First, of course, we express our apprciation to those people who in some way had a turning, revolutionary impact on our times. When we say people contribute to the high-tech industry, it means that people have an influence on the times, because technology now determines the times, the way of living, the style of living, the speed of living and the quality of living.

Secondly, we hereby emphasize the policy of the government of the Republic of Armenia and reaffirm our political commitment to do everything to make Armenia a high-tech country and our determination to endow Armenia's economy and life with high-tech efficiency.

Thirdly, of course, we show individual success stories, big success stories to the youth, businesses, and startups of the Republic of Armenia, trying to encourage people who are either working or thinking in that field, or maybe they are in the process of choosing a profession, to follow the example of our award winners. And seeing such prominent people in Armenia might become a factor for their professional choice.

Of course, we also have a task to show the developments taking place in Armenia to our partners, award winners, and I am also happy to record that we can say that we also have a certain dynamic of development in the IT sector to show. And we have been ensuring almost two-digit growth in the sector in Armenia for many years. As of 2022, more than 30,000 people work in the industry and the turnover of the industry has exceeded 1 billion USD.

In general, this award ceremony and communication with the awardees is also very important for the Government, because during the contacts with the awardees I try to find answers to several questions, or rather two specific questions. I want to find out what these successful people thank governments for, firstly for their individual success and secondly for the success of their companies.

And from my contacts over the last five years, I have drawn two main conclusions, that the primary role of governments is to make education as accessible as possible and to ensure its quality, and secondly, to ensure as fair and honest as possible a level playing field for competition, particularly in the field of public procurement, so that companies have the opportunity to participate and develop their ideas, implement their ideas and sell them to governments.

I am happy to record that today also, we had a very meaningful conversation with Mr. Narayen
on this topic and I want to thank him for the opportunity to hear his assessment of the most effective tools for the development of the IT sector. And I'm very grateful that he was happy to share his approaches and views."

Afterwards, Prime Minister Pashinyan handed over the 2022 State Award of the Republic of Armenia for global investment in the field of High Technologies to Shantanu Narayen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Adobe.

In his turn, Shantanu Narayen said:

"Mr. Prime Minister,
Mr. President,
Honorable guests,

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for this great honor that is being bestowed upon me and Adobe Systems today. Thank you very much. Adobe's vision has truly been to change the world through digital tools.

The company was founded so that anyone who has an idea can express it. Adobe has been influential in enabling billions of people around the world to be able to take an idea in their mind and express it. I am honored to be part of the company for more than 25 years.

I highly appreciate the conversation I had with the Prime Minister today. Today, tonight, he asked me a lot of questions about what it will take to further foster IT development. It was a very good conversation for both of us, we were both interested in education, the topic of talent and creating a macroeconomic environment in which there will be opportunities for more companies to start, because I really believe that the startup community in the country is an important indicator for the success of the industry.

Adobe is proud that we have a research presence here. Yesterday was a very important day for us, because we opened our new building, which I think proves that we are loyal to the people of Armenia and are ready to continue expanding our presence here.

But let me repeat that today is a great honor for me, I want to thank everyone, including the members of the commissions, who gave me this honor. I accept this on behalf of 30,000 Adobe employees."