YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received Chairman of the Board of Directors of UAE-based airline Air Arabia, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Al Thani and CEO Adel Abdullah Ali, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

Being the largest airline in the Middle East and North Africa, Air Arabia and the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) today will sign an agreement on creation of a new Armenian national airline. The first talks on the Armenian-UAE cooperation in air communication have been held in the United Arab Emirates during the meeting of President Armen Sarkissian and the Governor of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi. The President expressed his warm greetings and best wishes to the Governor of Sharjah for assisting to implement the initiatives.

President Sarkissian welcomed the cooperation with a leading international airline and the creation of an Armenian national airline. He highly appreciated the productive work of Armenia’s caretaker deputy prime minister Tigran Avinyan, Chair of the Civil Aviation Committee Tatevik Revazyan and head of the ANIF Davit Papazyan in this respect.

“Armenia is currently facing a very difficult period. We appreciate our friends who are with us especially at this stage and start new cooperation, new project in Armenia. We have warm friendly relations with Arab countries, and your presence in this project is the evidence of this. We expect much more projects and initiatives”, the Armenian President told the guests.

Expressing gratitude for the warm welcome, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Al Thani said he highly values the Armenian-UAE inter-state relations and President Armen Sarkissian’s personal efforts for developing those ties. He said both sides are greatly interested in developing the cooperation which served as a base for implementing this new joint project. He expressed confidence that the new air bridge and the creation of the national carrier will be one more reliable step aimed at strengthening the Armenia-UAE commercial and business ties.

It was reported that the Armenian national airline will operate flights next year.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan