YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian has held a meeting today with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his delegation who are on an official visit to Armenia.

After a tête-à-tête meeting between the Armenian president and the Singaporean prime minister, an expanded format meeting including delegations of both countries took place.

“I am very happy that the relations of Singapore and Armenia are moving forward in the right direction,” Sarkissian said, welcoming the delegation in Armenia.

“It is very meaningful for me that during your time here you will also have meetings with the leaders of Eurasian Economic Union countries and Iran. Let’s hope that in the future you will use Armenia as a gateway to Eurasia. I expect to see you here again for a longer period of time, when me and my colleagues, the government will have the chance to show you Armenia and Armenians more,” Sarkissian said.

Thanking for the warm reception, the Singaporean PM said: “We are small countries, we live in a world where many challenges regarding uncertainties exist. But at the same time small countries have advantages in unpredictable situations, because they are able to adapt faster, to choose a new direction faster than big countries. It is time for us to be able to gain benefits from our dialogue, as well as from the opportunity of working together, by cooperating in the economic sector, within the framework of tourism, scientific and research programs. I hope we will be able to do more with Armenia, and have mutual-visits from Singapore to Armenia and vice versa.”

In turn Sarkissian said that regardless of being small or big the 21st century challenges will depend on how one manages the massive information, how productive one is. “In a way I have a feeling that we are in the beginning of a great historic era,” the Armenian President said.

President Sarkissian noted that Armenia and Singapore can especially have productive cooperation in mathematical modelling and Artificial Intelligence.

Overall the sides expressed conviction that the high-tech and banking sectors can also be promising areas for cooperation. In this context they attached importance to the activation of contacts between business communities of the two countries.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan