YEREVAN. - Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Thursday received the delegation led by the Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Andrej Danko, the Armenian Government press-service reports.

Welcoming the guests, the Prime Minster noted that Slovakia is one of Armenia’s most important partners in Europe and Armenia is thus interested in the further development of cooperation in political, trade and economic, cultural and other areas of mutual interest.

Karapetyan expressed conviction that the Armenian-Slovakian interstate ties have a great potential for development. He also added that the Armenian side has committed itself to developing and enhancing that cooperation in all directions. The PM underscored the importance of strengthening and expanding the ties between Armenian and Slovak businessmen, proposing to consider the issue of setting up of an interstate committee dealing with trade and economic issues. He also stressed that the Armenian Government will soon present to its Slovak partners a package of investment programs.

Apart from this, Karapetyan added that in the Armenian-Slovakian relations special attention is attached to the cooperation in the framework of the EU Eastern Partnership. According to him, Armenia is ready to deepen its cooperation with the EU in the areas of democratic reforms, human rights, protection of rights, efficient governance, etc.

Andrej Danko, for his part, stressed the fact of warm friendly relations between the peoples of two countries, attaching importance to the deepening and expansion of the trade and economic ties. The Speaker of the National Council expressed readiness to brief the Slovakian Prime Minster on the initiatives of the Armenian side aimed at intensifying the trade and economic ties, as well as expanding and strengthening the relations between the states.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister thanked Andrej Danko for his personal contribution to and stance on the Armenian Genocide recognition and condemnation.