Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, who is in Switzerland on a working visit, on Monday participated in the opening ceremony of the international STARMUS Festival V of science, art and music, in Zurich.

The person behind the idea of this festival and its main organizer, Armenian astrophysicist Garik Israelian who works at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, opened this event, the President’s press service informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his welcoming remarks, the Armenian President, for his part, entitled the important reason for his attendance to this festival as “STARMUS and Armenia,” and stressed that he invites everyone to come to Armenia for the next—sixth—STARMUS Festival.

Furthermore, Sarkissian noted, in particular, that Armenia is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, he spoke about the more than 2800-year-old capital city Yerevan and the Urartian-period observatory in Metsamor, stated that he wants to show the well-known Byurakan Observatory to guests, and said Armenians value science and education.

Also, Armen Sarkissian introduced the new presidential initiatives in this regard.