Katherine Leach impressed by Armenian hospitality and bilateral relations

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Armenia Catherine Leach has been in our country for several years. She is impressed by the Armenian hospitality, sense of humor of our compatriots and sincerity. Catherine Leach highly evaluates the British-Armenian relations. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Armenia intends to organize a British Week in Armenia in the nearest future, during which different events will be held to spread the British education, language, science and innovations, business and services, arts and music in our country. The Armenpress correspondent talked to Catherine Leach about the current state and development of the Armenian-British relations.

- The Royal Baby was born on 22 July. We would like to congratulate you on this occasion and would like to know what does Royal Baby’s birth mean for the UK? Could you please mention 7 interesting facts about the Baby that you have shared with Armenian public these days?

- Thank you for your congratulations. The birth of a baby is always a happy event – but I think people in the UK are particularly excited because William and Kate have touched people’s hearts over the past year with their evident warmth and happiness. They are a lovely couple and we wish them well. The seven interesting facts about the baby are:

• The baby will be third in line to the throne, regardless of its sex. In October 2011 the government announced that the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state had accepted that the law should change to allow the first born child, rather than the first born son, to become next in line to the throne.

• Breaking with royal tradition, Kate has shunned hired help and will be relying on her mother Carole Middleton to assist her in the first weeks after the child's birth. She will be the first royal woman to get by without a fulltime nanny in generations.

• The composer Paule Mealor who wrote a piece of music for the royal wedding has now written a lullaby for the Cambridges’ baby called “Sleep On.”

• Kate and William’s baby will one day become the head of the UK armed forces, the supreme governor of the Church of England, the head of the Commonwealth of 54 nations and the head of state in 16 countries.

• Ordinary tap water will not suffice when the baby is baptized — the Archbishop of London ships water directly from the River Jordan for all royal baptisms.

• The birth of the baby is expected to boost the global economy by more than $425 million.

• There were more than 100.000 #Royalbaby hashtaged tweets on Twitter dedicated to Royal Baby

- How would you assess the current stage of UK-Armenia relations: with the progress of political dialogue. Are you satisfied with economic relations?

- Over the past year we have had a series of very high level visits: the Minister for Europe, David Lidington, in September; Lord Wallis, the spokesperson for the Foreign Office in the House of Lords in February; Simon Fraser, the head of the Foreign Office in March; Colin Roberts, the Foreign Office Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Department in April; and of course the Prince of Wales, on a private visit in May, during which he met with President Sargsyan. Foreign Minister Nalbandyan also travelled to the UK to meet with our Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in May. I am really pleased that such extensive contacts have developed over the past year and we aim to keep up the momentum over the coming year.

Developing economic relations has also been one of our key priorities. We have a lot of UK brands on the Yerevan high street and in the shops, including HSBC, Next, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and so on. We also have some British owned businesses which are doing well in areas such as pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, construction materials. We brought the first trade mission from the UK to Armenia last November, including businesses covering areas from jewelry to engineering. But we would like to do better. The UK-based mining company Lydian plans to become the biggest single Western investor in Armenia, bringing in the highest environmental, social and financial standards to the sector. We believe this will be a game-changer for the sector and for Armenia’s profile in the investment community.

- What kind of activities are you going to organize for strengthening UK-Armenia relation in near future?

- The political focus for the next six months will be on parliamentary contacts: we hope to have a visit from at least one parliamentary group and I would very much like to take some Armenian parliamentarians for a return visit to the UK. We are also planning to hold at least one week of British themed activities, promoting areas where we think we have real strengths, e.g. education/English language, science and innovation, business services, music and the arts. We want to work with British and Armenian businesses to highlight the opportunities both for individuals and for businesses in these areas. I am also keen to work closely with our energetic British Armenian Diaspora to support their activities in Armenia. For example, working together with the Tekeyan Centre we have raised over £25k in charitable donations in the past few months to help replace the heating system of the Lord Byron School in Gyumri.

- Recently the minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan asked the British Government for a support for establishment of the special district for Syrian Armenians migrated to Armenia. Have you already sent her request to your government and what expectation you have around this?

- I have passed on the Minister’s request. We recognize how much the Armenian government is trying to do for the Syrian Armenian community to provide them with decent conditions and hope for the future. I know that the focus of British government aid at the moment is on urgent humanitarian help for those displaced people living in very difficult circumstances in refugee camps. But I hope that through our efforts and the efforts of the British Diaspora we can do more to help the Syrian Armenians who have managed to resettle here.

- It is already long time that you are living in Armenia. What kind of similarities and differences you have noticed between our nations and what you like in Armenians.

- I am still overwhelmed by Armenian hospitality, which outclasses anything I have ever seen in the UK. I think that we share a good sense of humor. A sense of humor, warmth, openness – these are the things I like best about my Armenian friends and colleagues.

Interviewed by Roza Grigoryan