YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Mexico marked the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations in 2017. This year Mexico has a new Ambassador to Armenia.

Ambassador Norma Bertha Pensado Moreno gave an interview to ARMENPRESS talking about the Armenian-Mexican relations, boosting economic ties and her priorities during her tenure in Armenia.

-Mrs. Moreno, you are probably in Armenia for the first time. I would like to hear your first impressions on our country?

-My first impressions are quite positive. Yerevan is a beautiful city with perfect buildings. The weather is very good, it’s pleasant that the days are mostly sunny here. I also like the people very much, I feel they are similar to the Mexicans with many characteristics.

-Before being appointed to this post and visiting Armenia, what did you know about our country?

-I know that Armenia is a country with a rich history, and I think in this sense our two countries have much in common as we also have a century-old history and culture. Armenia is also known as the first country to adopt the Christianity, as homeland for winemaking thousand years ago, the Armenian cuisine is also famous. Of course, when I was going to be appointed as an Ambassador, I thoroughly studied the history of Armenia and the Armenian-Mexican ties. I can state that we have common interests and values.

-As a newly appointed Ambassador, on what priorities are you going to focus your further activity?

-First of all, I would like to work with my Armenian partners since, in my opinion, it’s very important for the Ambassador not to act isolated: we always need to work with our partners. And in this sense my visit was very substantial as I have been in many structures, met with different people, now we have certain ties and should start working with each other. Traditionally our bilateral relations were at a good level, but, for instance, our economic, commercial figures are low, however, I think there is a great potential in this sphere. I am going to make great efforts by trying to move forward this part of the relations. Of course, among the spheres of cooperation interest are culture, education and science.  I visited the Yerevan State University, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Armenia. This was a chance to see concrete directions through which we should start working. We have talked about the possibility of cooperation in the fields of biology and physics at the YSU. Former head of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, biologist José Sarukhán, who is Armenian in origin, last year proposed to work on this path. As for the physics there is already certain cooperation between the universities of Yerevan and Guadalajara, in other words there is some base, we are not starting from zero. We have also talked about the possible cooperation in teaching Spanish. And I was really impressed being informed that there is a Spanish department at the University, that it is taught not only as a second, but also as a first language. We will try to search for opportunities in assisting the University with lecturers, for instance, sending a professor from Mexico to Armenia. We have discussed with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry issues relating to the opportunities to start cooperation in the special sector. We have agreed that a business delegation will visit Mexico in the coming months, and they will start working on getting acquainted with the Mexico business community representatives and establishing ties with them. We will try to help them and find respective partners.

-Mrs. Moreno, what can attract the Mexican investor abroad, in particular in Armenia? In other words, what conditions are needed for making investments?

-In order to assist the business sector, move forward the economic relations, the business communities need to work jointly, and the governments and embassies can assist them to meet, but we cannot do business for them, this is the work of these community representatives and companies. For this purpose we need the assistance of the Armenian business community in order to specify concrete directions. For instance, we found out that there is an interest from Armenia to bring investments for the pharmaceuticals field, we are going to inform this to our business community representative to see whether there is an opportunity for investments in this sector. I think the most important at this stage is for the business communities to meet with each other, since I believe that one of the reasons of the low economic figures is that the representatives of the two countries of this field do not know each other well. We need to take the first step.

-Mrs. Moreno, a Memory and Tolerance Museum opened in Mexico 7 years ago. One of its 7 sections is dedicated to the history of the Armenian Genocide. What can you say about the Genocide recognition process, as well as the awareness in Mexico on the Armenian people and its history in general?

-Unfortunately, the awareness level on Armenians in Mexico is not so high, perhaps because of the geographical distance between the two countries. Our government respects the freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and the fact that the Museum exists is one of its manifestations. As for Mexico’s stance to the events that took place in 1915, it has always been very clear. The government is deeply upset about these events. We hope the conflict between the two countries will find a peaceful settlement through dialogue, and we hope such events will never happen in any part of the world.

-What can you say about the Armenian community of Mexico? In which spheres they are mainly engaged?

-The Armenian community in Mexico is not so big. The numbers, of course, vary, but I can state that there are quite famous figures among them, as I said is José Sarukhán, who has been the head of one of the most important universities of Mexico. His son is a diplomat and has been Mexico’s Ambassador to the US. These people enjoy great respect.

-Mrs. Moreno, are mutual visits of high-ranking officials planned in the future?

-I think this year it will be a little difficult as presidential election will be held in Mexico in July. An unprecedented electoral process is expected: the president, the congress and 9 governors will change. The elections of local self-government bodies will be held in 30 out of 32 states. It’s expected 88 million citizens will participate in the elections.

-Thank you for the interview.

Interview by Syuzi Muradyan