YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian met with President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić during his official visit in Belgrade, the President’s Office told Armenpress. The private meeting of the two Presidents was followed by an extended format meeting with the participation of the delegations.

“It’s an honor to host you here”, the Serbian President told the Armenian counterpart. “Not only as a wonderful politician, but also a businessman in the past you have carried out major works. I was really impressed by the knowledge you have on different matters”, the Serbian leader said, adding: “We love Armenia and its people. You can be convinced on this by visiting everywhere and talking to everyone. We are very proud of our relations with Armenia. I think it’s the high time to take practical actions”. President Vučić noted that the political relations between the two countries have always been at a good level. “But we need to take action to make them better. One of the first steps for this purpose can be to open a new embassy in Yerevan”, the Serbian President said. “At the same time, while talking about concrete actions, we should discuss what we can do together in the field of digitization, IT and artificial intelligence. Having young talented people we should use their knowledge”.

In his turn the Armenian President thanked his Serbian counterpart for the invitation and warm welcome, and invited President Vučić to visit Armenia, adding that he will be delighted to host him in Yerevan. “By visiting Armenia be sure that you will have a home there like I have here”, the Armenian President said. “It’s a home for friends because I take this friendship seriously like everyone else in Armenia. I want Armenia to be closer to Serbia. Perhaps we have lost several years, but we can restore this very quickly. I agree that there are several areas which are especially important for our cooperation, such as new technologies, artificial intelligence, math modeling, etc. We want to harmonize Armenia with the future and bring new technologies to Armenia”.

President Sarkissian said all these actions require great efforts, also for developing the education system. “We should be attractive economically, have traditions in the fields of science and technologies. In addition, we should ensure the presence of major companies. I think this is the future”, the Armenian President said. “Armenia makes great efforts to create ideas, teach the new technologies. I will be proud to present this to you and your colleagues”.

Sarkissian said Armenia promotes the culture of startups, and in this context introduced the Seaside startup being organized in Armenia every year for a one-week period. “We have initiated the ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) program within the frames of which we would be happy to see Serbian companies or institutes in Armenia, as well as it would be better if Armenian companies visit Serbia”, President Sarkissian added. “We have many similarities in many ways, our greatest resource is the human resource. I will do everything possible for our ties to continue with this level”.

The President welcomed the decisions of the Serbian side to eliminate visa regime for the Armenian citizens and open an Embassy of Serbia in Armenia, stating that these actions will further contribute to strengthening the bilateral ties.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan