Business-seminar to introduce the Armenian-Canadian IT Industry 

Promotion Project and opportunities for Canadian companies to develop linkages with the growing 
Armenian IT sector was held on January 25, 2005, at the Ottawa Centre for Research and 
Innovation on the initiative of the Armenian Embassy in Ottawa and the OCRI.
         
More than 30 Canadian IT companies participated in the Seminar discussing through a 
videoconference connection with their Armenian counterparts from the Enterprise Incubator 
Foundation in Yerevan opportunities for accessing Armenia’s sophisticated software development 
capabilities and IP, through skilled, highly educated, low cost software resources to support 
offshore research and development; creating partnership to access large Russian-speaking 
markets as well as to market new products and services in North American markets.
   
Representatives from Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada introduced the Partnerships 
for Tomorrow Program designed to contribute to the democratic and economic reform process in 
the Central and Eastern Europe countries. 
It has been agreed to start arrangements for inviting 5 Armenian IT specialists to participate 
at the Partnerships for Tomorrow Program during April – September, 2005.
   
The Armenian-Canadian IT Industry Promotion Initiative itself has been introduced by Mr. Grant 
Thomas, responsible for the Project and representative of the Armenian IT Industry Promotion 
sector in Canada, who described details of the Project and highlighted its main goals: to increase 
the awareness of the capability, sophistication and potential of the Armenia IT sector in Canada 
and to generate sales opportunities for export-ready Armenian companies in the Canadian and North 
American markets; and to inform Canadian IT companies and investors of the scientific and 
technical capacity of the Armenian IT sector and to promote investment, joint ventures and 
outsourcing in Armenia.
   
H.E. Ara Papian, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Canada 
gave a comprehensive presentation of Armenia’s new opportunities for economic cooperation and 
business highlighting in particular great opportunities in IT and other priority sectors of economic 
development.