BUENOS AIRES (Agencia Prensa Armenia)—Argentina’s Vice President Amado Boudou received Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian in the Foreign Ministry on Monday morning. Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, Minister of Social Development Alicia Kirchner, President of the Chamber of Deputies Julian Dominguez, President of the Chamber of Senators Gerardo Zamora, Federal Administrator of Public Revenue, Ricardo Echegaray, General Secretary of the Presidency, Oscar Parrilli and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Lino Barañao, also attended the meeting.
The Armenian delegation included Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan and Economy Minister Karen Chshmaritian, along with the Ambassador of Armenia in Argentina, Vahagn Melikian.
After a warm welcome, Sarkisian said that Argentina “is the third largest investor in Armenia” with $400 million invested. Also, he thanked the neutral stance that Argentina took on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Meanwhile, Boudou said that he attended the inauguration of President Sarkisian, stressed the importance of the Armenian community in Argentina and said that his government not only works by inequalities within countries, but inequalities between nations, while Timerman thanked Sarkisian for his interest in the issue of Malvinas.
Nalbandian and Barañao signed an agreement to cooperate in the field of scientific and technological research through the Armenian Ministry of Education. Nalbandian also signed an agreement with Echegaray to exchange tax information. Timerman signed a cooperation agreement on a holiday program with Nalbandian and the Secretary of Treasury.
Argentine officials lunched at the San Martin Palace with the Armenian delegation, due to a change of agenda; President Cristina Fernandez could not receive Sarkisian in Casa Rosada because she was suffering from an illness.
In the afternoon, President Sarkisian will visit Plaza San Martin to honor General San Martin and then will be received by the Head of Government Mauricio Macri, who will hand over the keys of the city. Later, Sarkisian will speak in a ceremony with the Armenian community in Argentina at the National Theatre. Tomorrow, Sarkisian will tour the neighborhood of Palermo, an area with a strong presence of the Armenian community, to inaugurate the construction of the Armenian Genocide Museum and attend a ceremony at the recently renamed “Armenian Immigrants’ Square.”
