YEREVAN. – President of the National Assembly (NA), Galust Sahakyan, on Wednesday received Japan’s newly appointed—and first resident—Ambassador to Armenia, Eiji Taguchi.

First, the NA speaker congratulated the newly appointed ambassador on commencing his diplomatic mission in Armenia.

Sahakyan, speaking on bilateral ties, expressed the hope that the opening of the Embassy of Japan in Armenia will boost the development of cooperation between the two countries and the implementation of joint initiative programs.

He highly assessed the Armenian-Japanese relations and noted that they are based on friendship and mutual trust. The Armenian parliament leader highlighted that the friendship relations were intensified especially after the Armenian President’s visit to Japan. Galust Sahakyan also underscored the contacts and mutual visits of the friendship groups functioning in the parliaments of the two countries, and which promote the deepening of relations and cooperation.

Ambassador Taguchi, for his part, thanked for the reception and noted that he stands ready to assist in the further deepening and strengthening of bilateral relations.

At the ensuing talk, several other matters of mutual interest were also discussed.