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Americans for Artsakh Bring Negotiation & Government PR Skills to Nk

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  • Americans for Artsakh Bring Negotiation & Government PR Skills to Nk

    AGBU Press Office
    55 East 59th Street
    New York, NY 10022-1112
    Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
    Fax: 212.319.6507
    Email: [email protected]
    Website: www.agbu.org

    PRESS RELEASE

    Friday, September 11, 2009

    Americans for Artsakh Bring Negotiation and Government Public
    Relations Skills to Karabakh with the Help of AGBU

    In August, Americans for Artsakh (AFA) completed its third project in
    a series of ongoing training programs for Karabakh government
    officials. With each course increasing in complexity, the most recent
    project focused on two areas of crucial importance to the nascent
    state in this delicate period of its development--negotiations and
    government public relations.

    The diplomacy course was conducted at the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
    Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno
    Karabakh Republic. Participants included twelve staff members from the
    Ministry, two from the Office of the President, two from the National
    Assembly, and two from the Karabakh Information Office. The Armenian
    General Benevolent Union (AGBU) funded AFA for this training
    program. In addition, special assistance was provided by Karen
    Kostandyan, Second Secretary of Multilateral Cooperation at the
    Ministry and AFA's Karabakh Coordinator.

    The first portion of the course, called "Negotiations: Basic Concepts
    and Tactics," was led by AFA Executive Director Sarah Ludwig. Ludwig
    holds a certificate in conducting capacity-building programs in
    post-conflict regions from the US Institute of Peace (USIP). The
    students were introduced to basic concepts used in international
    negotiations, and were then given exercises that used the theories and
    ideologies in hypothetical conflict scenarios. Class exercises
    included activities involving highly political topics: tribal
    relations in Afghanistan, civic participation in Romania, media
    freedom in Vietnam, and six-party talks in North Korea. Students were
    given background material prior to the course in order to familiarize
    themselves with the topics beforehand.

    Several of the students acknowledged that such complex and sensitive
    foreign subjects were at first difficult to conceptualize. Most
    students had limited prior exposure to the geographical areas and
    political situations presented in the "mock scenarios," providing a
    great challenge in the beginning. However, as the course progressed,
    students became increasingly able to find parallels between the
    classroom scenarios and situations in their own lives. In one of the
    activities--an examination of six-party talks on North Korea--students
    were split into groups and asked to present an analysis of one of the
    parties involved, followed by a question-and-answer session with the
    group as a whole. "The class activities were very useful and
    interesting," commented Armen Sargsyan, Third Secretary of Bilateral
    Relations at the Ministry. "They helped us learn a lot of new,
    different places." Marina Harutyunyan, Attaché at the Ministry's
    Information Department, agreed, "We very much need these courses for
    our future work.. We need to be prepared to face our counterparts
    [from other countries]. The classes were very helpful in this."

    The second portion of the course was comprised of lectures and
    exercises on the topic of developing the government's relationships
    with outside parties and individuals. Dr. Paul Dezendorf, a faculty
    member at Western Carolina in North Carolina, led the series of
    workshops. His lectures were based on classes he offers in the United
    States. He will also be offering the same tutorials during his
    Fulbright Scholar appointment at the Higher School of Economics in
    Moscow this coming fall. Dr. Dezendorf's opening lectures aided
    students in understanding the eight categories of communications that
    governments typically use in building relationships with their
    external audiences, such as press relations and encouraging compliance
    with the law. He focused on several areas that are particularly
    relevant to the Karabakh situation, including public diplomacy,
    dealing with the media, creating a "brand" image for the country, and
    increasing tourism prospects.

    Students also discussed areas of life in Karabakh that require
    improvement. These include creating and refining media sources,
    expanding upon the government's ability to relate to the media,
    enlarging potential tourist mechanisms, and the utilization of social
    networking. Upon completion of the course, several of the students
    chose to form a working group with the professor and agreed upon a
    series of initiatives to work on and address during the next set of
    courses, scheduled for spring 2010. Dr. Dezendorf has taken an active
    interest in Karabakh, and he plans to correspond regularly with the
    students in order to aid them in the fulfillment of their goals.

    In addition, Dr. Dezendorf met with the Office of Tourism to discuss
    collaborative research for the Office in developing "brand identity"
    for Karabakh. His assistance will be based on former successful models
    for marketing countries following a major crisis, such as
    Slovenia. Ensuing projects will focus on improving the understanding
    of how existing and potential audiences view Karabakh, and converting
    that understanding into marketing ideas for the Office. Dr. Dezendorf
    observed that Karabakh faces problems not unlike those faced by
    countries in many other areas of the world. As he commented during his
    visit, "[Karabakh] has a great deal of natural beauty, an energetic
    population, and a focused and distinctive culture. These are
    substantial assets that will be of great benefit in marketing the
    country."

    AFA plans to contribute with its government training courses on a
    regular basis. The organization also offers courses in, among other
    fields, law, public administration, and management.

    Americans for Artsakh is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
    organization established to preserve freedom, strengthen democracy,
    foster economic development, protect the cultural identity and promote
    the heritage of the people of Artsakh.

    Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest
    non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
    preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
    educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the
    lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.
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