PARIS. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who is on an official visit to France, met with his French counterpart François Hollande in Élysée Palace on Wednesday.

By the end of the meeting, the presidents signed a number of documents on the deepening and development of the Armenian-French cooperation. They also summed up the results of the negotiations in the statements made before media.

In his statement, Sargsyan thanked François Hollande for the invitation and warm reception. He also noted, in particular:  

“We just finished our negotiations during which we discussed various issues of mutual interest.

I am pleased to note that our positions on all the issues are very close to each other, both in terms of our bilateral relations and the issues and events going on in our region.

The centuries-old friendship and historical and cultural ties, as well as the absence of political issues between Armenia and France are certainly a solid ground based on which our relations continue to expand in the climate of mutual respect and confidence.

We stated with satisfaction our achievements—stable political dialogue, very strong inter-parliamentary ties, active economic, scientific and educational, as well as cultural ties,  deepening of decentralized cooperation, mutually beneficial cooperation on international platforms, support programs implemented by France in Armenia, backing each other in important international issues, and comprehensive legal framework.

Today we made a few more steps towards the deepening of our relations by signing documents in respect of the spheres of tourism, as well as interuniversity and scientific and educational cooperation.  

High-level political dialogue is certainly a solid ground also for efficient economic cooperation. And although our economic relations have not yet reached the level of political relations, we are taking confident steps in that direction. And as Mr President said, this morning I was tying to convince French businessmen in  France Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF) that Armenia has favorable investment conditions. I proposed them to come and make investments in Armenia. I tried to convince them by the reality that being a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia can be a platform for them to produce in Armenia and sell in the 170 million EAEU market. Secondly, having good relations with Iran and maintaining good relations with that state after the lifting of sanction, as well as knowing the Iranian market and people, Armenia can be useful to leading French companies here as well, serving as a platform for European companies and having opportunities, as well as serving them to the development of these relations. If the French business flourishes in Iran, we will benefit from this as well. I thanked President Hollande for backing the decision on holding the Francophonie Summit in Armenia in 2018. This is a very important event for us, and we will certainly be able to organize and hold that event at decent level in 2018. Apart from this, this preparation period will include large dissemination of the French language and the French culture in Armenia. This year alone we have planned over 600 events, whose implementation will certainly strengthen our friendship, since there are two known circumstances—two very important facts and factors—in our links. One of them is almost the half million Armenians living in Armenia, who were able to flee the disaster, reach France, establish there and work for the development of France, preserving their national identity. Currently, they are a very big natural bridge. The second circumstance is the French culture, which Armenia likes and knows, and which is spread in Armenia. We must constantly cherish all this as a guarantee of our friendship.”