Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, who is in Tokyo on a working visit, on Thursday met today with Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

The Japanese Prime Minister welcomed President Sarkissian’s participation in Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony and his first visit to Japan as President of the Republic of Armenia. He said that Armenia is an important partner for Japan and they are interested in developing cooperation.

“Armenia has a rich history, culture, traditions,” said Prime Minister Abe. “By accepting them as a basis, you are focusing on new technologies and innovations, looking to the future.”

Expressing gratitude for the invitation to participate in the historic event of the Emperor's enthronement, President Sarkissian said: “Although we are quite distant from each other geographically, we are close with our values, our culture and our history. We are both ancient peoples with many similarities in many ways. We need to look ahead. The future implies cooperation. I believe we can do a lot together.”

He considered the areas of innovation, information technology, artificial intelligence, mathematical modeling, and information management of large streams to be promising.

Noting that after the devastating earthquake in Armenia in 1988, Japan was one of the first to extend assistance to Armenia, President Sarkissian said in particular. "Armenia highly appreciates Japan's assistance to our country in the field of emergency management and natural disaster prevention and natural disaster prevention."

He also stressed the importance of expanding cooperation in the areas of nuclear safety and regulation, including nuclear waste management and earthquake prediction.

Noting that the two countries have signed the agreement on investment liberalization, promotion and protection, which creates effective opportunities, President Sarkissian said that Armenia, being a member of the EAEU and having an established banking system, could be considered as a trading platform. He also considered the sphere of food safety promising in terms of cooperation.

The Japanese prime minister said that the two countries need to know each other better, to discover each other's opportunities. He attached importance to informing Japanese companies about the potential and opportunities of cooperation with Armenia.

"It is important to inform companies of the great potential that Armenia has, as well as to inform that as President, you are very focused on developing such important areas," Prime Minister Abe noted. To this end, he stressed the importance of holding a joint business forum.

On behalf of himself and the Armenian government, the President Armen Sarkissian invited the Japanese Prime Minister to visit Armenia.