President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan paid an official visit to Greece today upon the invitation of President of Greece Prokopios Pavlopoulos.

Before the launch of high-level talks, Serzh Sargsyan laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Athens, Armenian president’s press-service reports.

After the solemn ceremony at the Greek President’s mansion, a tête-à-tête meeting between the presidents was held. Armenian President and his Greek counterpart, who used to be a member of the Armenian-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group and is thus well-aware of the most important issues regarding Armenia, discussed issues of interstate relations both in bilateral and multilateral formats. In the framework of the international and regional organizations, the presidents touched on the development of mutual cooperation on a number of important issues, inter-parliamentary ties, process of acknowledging and condemning the Armenian Genocide, as well as the talks over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Sargsyan and Pavlopoulos also discussed the issues on the international agenda, presented their positions, touched on the Armenian-EU relations and the role of friendly Greece in their development. Moreover, they conferred on the crisis in the Middle East, specifically the consequences of the migrant crisis, which has become a serious challenge for the Greek government.   

Following the tête-à-tête meeting, a banquet was given in honor of the Armenian president. In his address, Sargsyan referred to the deeply-rooted ties between the Armenian and Greek peoples.

For his part, Mr Pavlopoulos noted that the two nations are linked with historical ties. According to him, in the beginning of the 20th century, the two nations suffered because of one and the same reason. “We won’t forget the Armenian Genocide of 1915. I'm proud of the fact that Greece became one of the several countries to give asylum to the Armenians, and one of the first counties to acknowledge the Genocide committed against the Armenian people. At the same time, the Armenian Parliament acknowledged the Genocide against the Pontic Greeks.”

Referring to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Greek President noted that his country is committed to the principle of peaceful settlement of the conflict on the basis of the international law and norms, and definitely holds the same position on the Karabakh conflict settlement. In this connection he also stressed that the OSCE Minsk Group is the most convenient platform for resolving the conflict.

The Armenian and Greek presidents will later attend the opening of “Armenia: Spirit of Ararat ” exhibition to be held at Athens’ Byzantine and Christian museum.  

 Serzh Sargsyan will meet with the representatives of the Armenian community of Greece afterwards.