YEREVAN. - Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan received on Monday the delegation headed by President of France’s Bouches-du-Rhône Department General Council, Martine Vassal. Bouches-du-Rhône is the largest department, which includes 119 cities.

Welcoming the guests, the PM noted that the Armenian-French ties are based on strong friendship, and not only the high-level political dialogue, but also the wide involvement of French business circles in different spheres of Armenia’s economy, indicate the exemplary cooperation between the two states. According to Abrahamyan, the French Armenian community played a great role in the establishment and development of bilateral ties. He thanked the French authorities for the respectful treatment to the Armenian community.  

Abrahamyan underscored the importance of the visit of the delegation headed by Ms Vassal in terms of the development of the decentralized Armenian-French cooperation, stressing that it has a great potential for the development of economic ties. The PM noted that nearly two dozens of provinces and communities, including Yerevan, effectively cooperate with France’s sister cities and provinces, which include Marseille and the delegation’s visit will contribute to the deepening of bilateral decentralized cooperation.

For her part, Ms Vassal noted that in the framework of the visit the delegation attended the event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Etchmiadzin 10 French Treatment Center, which operates with the support of Bardzrunk 5165 French-Armenian organization (Marseille). They also visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial and paid tribute to the memory of the innocent victims.

Martine Vassal expressed satisfaction with the course of joint programs implemented by Armenia and Bouches-du-Rhône, stressing that the Department will continue to support Armenia’s strengthening and developing.

The meeting also addressed issues related to the widening of the decentralized cooperation. The sides agreed to set up a joint work group which will deal with the development and implementation of programs.  

The interlocutors also exchanged views on the regional issues, referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and the large-scale offensive unleashed by Azerbaijan along the Karabakh-Azerbaijani Line of Contact in early April. The PM noted that the unprecedented April action was another obvious manifestation of Azerbaijan’s policy aimed at the breakdown of the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, to which the Armenian armed forces properly counteracted.

Both sides considered the large-scale military actions against Artsakh unacceptable, attaching importance to the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.