Armenian-Japanese cooperation potential is much greater than it is today, says President Sarkissian

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, ARMENPRESS. “The potential of the Armenian-Japanese cooperation is much greater than we have it at present”, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian told a reporter in Tokyo on the sidelines of his working visit to Japan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

“Both countries appreciate the bilateral relations, both have passed a difficult path, we are ancient nations, share some values, qualities and have a historical past”, he said. “This was also clearly seen today during our meeting with the prime minister, as well as at the previous meetings with the remaining partners”.

President Sarkissian said the Armenian-Japanese relations have numerous directions. The two countries cooperate at various formats which, according to him, is important, but not enough because the bilateral ties can move on with a great pace having a deep base.

“I attach importance to the fact that we concentrate our focus on several directions”, the Armenian President said. “The first one is that the two countries are in such an area where the danger of natural disasters, earthquakes is high. Therefore, it’s important for both of us to know in advance and predict the possibility of such incidents. Of course, it’s very difficult to predict something that depends on nature, but this is possible with the new technologies”. The President added that Armenia and Japan can effectively cooperate in the fields of natural disaster management, nuclear security, discuss the possibility to conduct joint research.

Commenting on his visit the Armenian President said the goal of his visit was not only to attend the enthronement ceremony of the new Emperor, although it is a historical event. “My next goal is to meet with the state structures and those major Japanese companies which are engaged in math modelling, artificial intelligence and great digital data development”, he said. “Each of these spheres are applied in all areas of our life, but Armenia and Japan can choose a certain domain which will be connected with environment, natural disasters, earthquakes and nuclear security. Both Japan and we are interested in solving these issues, therefore, they will also be interested in the cooperation with us in these areas taking into account the fact that Armenia has a potential to work in these three directions”.

Armen Sarkissian said Armenia can have the best technologies, but this requires a lot of work, a concrete program, resources, people, also Armenians living abroad who are specialists of the field or recorded a success in the aforementioned spheres. “We should make Armenia an attractive country for foreigners. We should be fully engaged in all these directions, developments happening in the world”, he noted. “We should work with all, the American people, the Europeans, Russians, Chinese people, Indians, and of course, with the Japanese people. We should make a reality the potential we have, and one of the ways to do that is the cooperation with one of the bests of the world”.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan