YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. On the sidelines of his official visit in the Federal Republic of Germany, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian together with spouse Nune Sarkissian today departed for Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt German state, where he met with the Minister-President of the state Reiner Haseloff, the Armenian Presidential Office told Armenpress.

President Sarkissian left a note in the Honorary Guest Book. Thereafter, the Armenian President and the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt had a meeting with the participation of delegations.

Reiner Haseloff welcomed the Armenian President’s visit to the state, noting that he is aware that Armen Sarkissian previously visited Magdeburg and is happy to again host him already in the position of the President.

“Our state has close ties with Armenia. Documents were signed on the cooperation between Armenia and Saxony-Anhalt. The Mesrop center for Armenian studies is operating in the Martin Luther university in the city of Halle which plays an important role for our ties. The agreement, which is signed today, will also contribute to strengthening our cooperation in education and science sectors”, Reiner Haseloff said.

In his turn the Armenian President said he is very happy to be hosted in Germany, particularly in this beautiful and historic state. “Germany has a major contribution to the world culture, and every time visiting here you take a small piece of this great heritage with you”, he said.

President Sarkissian said he visited Germany several times, also Magdeburg in 1980s as a Soviet scientist. “Armenia and Saxony-Anhalt are good friends. The source of our friendship and dialogue are history and culture, I hope science as well in the future. We highly appreciate the existence of the Mesrop center here. This is our small, but a very important presence in Germany. I am confident that we can do more together to expand and deepen the mutual partnership as there are good grounds for that”, the President said.

Armen Sarkissian invited Reiner Haseloff to visit Armenia to see one of the first observatories in the world which has a history of more than 4 thousand years.

During the meeting issues relating to the expansion of partnership in science, education and culture were also discussed. Reiner Haseloff and several ministers presented the partnership programs with Armenia and informed that currently school-children, student exchange programs are being implemented.

President Sarkissian proposed to expand the student exchange programs, by including the fields of information technologies, mathematics and physics. He said Armenia is interested in environmental issues as well. “Germany has a good experience in the field of “green science” which can be useful for our country. Armenia in general can become a good partner in scientific-research sector”, the President added.

Armen Sarkissian and Reiner Haseloff visited Otto von Guericke University. Accompanied by university rector Jens Strackeljan, Armen Sarkissian toured the university’s sports and scientific-research building, got acquainted with the activities of laboratories.

During the visit a cooperation agreement between the Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) and the medical faculty of the Otto von Guericke University was signed at the presence of Armen Sarkissian and Reiner Haseloff.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan