On 9 August 2017, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research was visited by a delegation from the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, headed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Vardan Toganyan. The delegation also included Trade Representative of the Republic of Armenia in the RF Karen Asoyan and a representative of the Embassy Press Office, Aram VosKanyan. This was the first visit to Dubna for the Ambassador.

JINR Director, RAS Academician V.A. Matveev, Vice-Director M.G. Itkis, Director of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions S.N. Dmitriev, FLNR Scientific Advisor Yu.Ts. Oganessyan, Deputy Head of the JINR International Cooperation Department A.A. Kotova, leader of the Armenian national group Eh. Airian and senior researcher of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems G. Torosyan welcomed the guests at the JINR Directorate.

M.G. Itkis introduced the main research directions, the basic facilities, and the flagship projects of the Institute to the guests. The Ambassador expressed his admiration for JINR scientific achievements; he was particularly interested in the field of applied research developments of the Institute. He also expressed the intention of the Armenian Embassy to support the activities regarding JINR developments within the framework of JINR-Armenia cooperation development.

V.A. Matveev noted the considerable progress made in the development of scientific relations between JINR and Armenia. One example of such successful cooperation is the joint project with YerPhI in the field of performing calibration with the crystals of the electromagnetic calorimeter for the MU2E experiment (Fermilab) with LUE-75 beams in energy range 15-40 MeV; as well as the collaboration with the Garni Geophysical Observatory (GGO), within which one Precision Laser Inclinometer (PLI), designed to monitor beams at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, was developed at DLNP in order to be sent to Armenia, where it will be placed in the GGO tunnel. Furthermore, during the meeting special attention was paid to the importance of attracting young talents to science and facilitating the development of national science and education.

As a result of the visit and based on the positive experience of holding JINR Days in Armenia, the parties reached the decision to organize Days of Armenia at JINR – an event that will allow to take a closer look at the culture of Armenia. The Ambassador, in his turn, expressed the intent to hold a reception in honour of their outstanding compatriot Yu.Ts. Oganesyan at the Embassy of Armenia.

Further acquaintance with the Institute was in the form of an excursion to JINR laboratories. The guests visited the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, where the developing accelerator complex of FLNR was shown to them, and the Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energy Physics, where the megascience NICA project (the factory of superconducting magnets in particular) was presented to them.