YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs Armen Papikyan had a meeting on September 14 with China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Hanhui in Beijing.

The meeting was followed by political consultations between the Armenian and Chinese foreign ministries, the Armenian ministry said.

During the consultations the sides reiterated commitment to further deepening, development and continuation of the Armenian-Chinese relations

Agreements were reached over carrying out political dialogue and mutual visits of high ranking officials, partnership between the foreign ministries, realization of the commercial cooperation potential, encouraging tourism, further facilitation of entry visa procedures for citizens, cooperation in international organizations, technical assistance from China to Armenia and other areas.

Deputy FM Papikyan briefed the Chinese officials on the latest developments in the NK conflict and thanked the Chinese side’s stance for supporting the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs for the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict.

The Armenian deputy FM also met with Qian Hongshan, the deputy director (Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs) of the International Department of China’s Communist Party Central Committee.  Issues of bilateral cooperation were addressed at the meeting.  Both sides stressed the need for deepening and interconnecting the development strategies of Armenia and China.

On September 15, the Armenian deputy FM and his delegation departed to Shanghai to meet local officials.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan