Armenian and French presidents don't see alternatives to OSCE Minsk Group Chairmanship in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process

PARIS, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan who is on a working visit in France had a meeting today with the French President Francois Hollande. As Armenpress was informed from the Press office of the Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan thanked the French president for the warm welcome and noted that it was a pleasure to be in friendly France again.

President noted with satisfaction that bilateral relations are supported by historic Armenian-French ties and in the last 20 years have continually developed getting to its historic pick. President characterized Armenian-French relations as deep, comprehensive, multilayer to the extent that it's difficult to talk about them in a couple of sentences. Serzh Sargsyan said that two countries achieved this level of relations due to the periodical high level dialogue, including resiprocal visits by French and Armenian presidents, strong parliamentary cooperation and steady contacts of the representatives of cultural, educational, scientific and other fields. President said that Armenian-French special relations have obtained a very nice tradition in later years, having at least one meeting a year on the presidential level during which Armenian-French, Armenia-EU, regional and global issues are discussed.

Armenian and French presidents discussed the above-mentioned issues in detail today as well. Concerning trade and economic relations Serzh Sargsyan said with satisfaction that there is a big French economic representation in Armenia with such leading companies as «Carefour», «Pernot Ricard», «Orange», «Credit Agricole», «Alcatel», «Veolia» and hoped that others would join that list. He also emphasized the aid projects by French Agency of Development which will start this year.

He noted that decentralized cooperation advances as well,including 30 local authorities from Armenia and France. In this context French president emphasized the third decentralized forum in Valance October 15-17 this year.

On parliamentary ties both presidents noted with satisfaction friendship groups that actively operate in both parliaments.

It's already a year that Armenia has become a full member of the Francophonie Organization and French-Armenian cultural ties progress as well.

During the meeting Serzh Sargsyan thanked again Francois Hollande for long and steady efforts of France concerning the peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Armenian and French presidents reiterated that they don't see alternatives to OSCE Minsk Group Chairmanship in Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process. Serzh Sargsyan said that Armenia particularly emphasizes the personal involvement of the French president in this issue.

The interlocutors have discussed in detail the prospects of Armenia-EU relations. They agreed that maximum efforts are needed to keep the pace and the quality of cooperation, in order to continue the process of reforms in Armenia and in this regard Armenian president reiterated Armenia's commitment. President Hollande reassured that France as a friend of Armenia ,as a leading European state and a world actor will continue to promote Armenia's European agenda.

During the meeting Armenian president expressed his gratitude for the significant French input int the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

In order to assure the continuation of the high-level dialogue between two friend-states Armenian president noted again his invitation to president Francois Hollande to come to Armenia on a state visit.