YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS.  President Serzh Sargsyan, who is on an official visit to the Hellenic Republic, put a wreath at the memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide at Nea Smyrni Square of Athena on March 15 and paid tribute to their memory together with the representatives of Greek-Armenian community and Armenian cadets receiving military education in Greece. As “Armenpress” was informed from the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of Republic of Armenia President’s Office, the President had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras afterwards.

Serzh Sargsyan and Alexis Tsipras mutually highlighted the necessity to further deepen cooperation in a number of spheres of mutual interest, such as trade and economy, agriculture, culture, education, healthcare, tourism and so on, as well as bilateral investments and interactions between business circles of the two countries attaching great importance to the works of intergovernmental commission for that task.

Prime Minister Tsipras considered Iran-Armenia-Greece trilateral cooperation as prospective, considering the cordial and friendly relations of the Republic of Armenia with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The PM also mentioned that he sees opportunities in terms of EU-EAEU cooperation and wishes to assist that process in case of necessity. The Prime Minister of Greece expressed readiness to support the development of Armenia-EU relations.

The Armenian President and the Greek PM also exchanged ideas over the current international issues and challenges, as well as regional developments.

Alexis Tsipras stated that Greece support the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict through negotiations within the framework of the Minsk Group format.

After the private conversation between the Armenian President and the Greek PM, negotiations in an expanded format with the participation of official delegations took place. A number of documents aimed at fostering Armenian-Greek cooperation in a number of areas were signed.  

President Serzh Sargsyan and PM Alexis Tsipras briefed the results of the negotiations for media representatives, during which President Sargsyan expressed gratitude to PM Alexis Tsipras, President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos and the friendly Greek people for the cordial reception, which, to the conviction of the President, is explained by the centuries-old friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

“I have to mention with satisfaction that I had very open and constructive discussions with my Greek colleagues, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and PM Alexis Tsipras. We discussed the entire Armenian-Greek agenda and the prospects for cooperation. We were happy to record that we had mainly identical positions on both bilateral and multilateral issues, as well as on international ones. At the same time we agreed that we must do more to give new quality and dynamics to both bilateral and multilateral cooperation”, President Sargsyan said. In the words of the President, the weakest aspect of the bilateral relations is trade and economy, which, undoubtedly, is conditioned also by objective factors. “I told Mr. Tsipras that we carefully follow the efforts made by the Greek Government to overcome the existing problems, and we are sure that your country will manage to overcome all the challenges. Armenia is deeply interested in political and economic stability and achievements of friendly Greece”, Serzh Sargsyan said.  The president also said that the military sphere has become a traditional direction of cooperation. The President also spoke about the role of Greece in Armenia-EU relations and attached great importance to the balanced position of Greece over Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. Serzh Sargsyan thanked the Greek people for their support to Armenian Genocide survivors and the opportunities they gave Armenians in their new country. “I also highly appreciate the firm position of Greece on recognizing and condemning that that heaviest crime. Ahead of the 100th anniversary of our national tragedy Greece reconfirmed its commitment to that issue, adopting the bill against racism and xenophobia (September 9, 2014), which criminalized the denial of the Armenian Genocide as well, sending an exemplary message to the global civilization. In 2015 the National Assembly of Armenia unanimously adopted the declaration condemning the genocide of Greeks and Assyrians perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. This is a brilliant proof that the spirit of solidarity has consolidated our peoples for centuries and will consolidate further on”, President Sargsyan said.

At the end of the briefing Serzh Sargsyan once again thanked for the cordial reception.