Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Head of the Armenia-India Friendship Group Hakob Arshakyan today received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Armenia Kishan Dan Dewal.

Members of the Friendship Group Tsovinar Vardanyan, Taguhi Ghazaryan, Tigran Abrahamyan and Narek Babayan were also attending the meeting.

The deputy parliamentary speaker noted that the rich historical past of the Armenian-Indian relations serves as the best basis for expansion of interstate ties.

“During the past 29 years, since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Armenia and India have succeeded in turning the friendly ties with deep historical roots into warm interstate and partnering relations,” Hakob Arshakyan underlined.

Talking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Arshakyan touched upon the importance of the immediate return of persons held as captives in Azerbaijan and the failure to implement the provisions of the November 9 trilateral statement by Azerbaijan. Arshakyan emphasized that, in this regard, Armenia appreciates the balanced statements and the role of India in the international arena. He stated that Armenia reaffirms its support to India on the Jammu and Kashmir issue and expressed hope that the issue would be resolved peacefully.

According to the deputy parliamentary speaker, Armenia has mutually beneficially cooperation with friendly India in different spheres and stated that, in 2019, compared to the same period, the volumes of export to India grew by almost 20 times.

Touching upon the cooperation in various sectors, Arshakyan singled out the activities of the Armenian-Indian Centre for Excellence in ICT.

The direct aviation flights between the two countries was highlighted from the perspective of expansion of cooperation in the fields of tourism and business development. The parties also touched upon the student exchange programs in the sphere of education, and it was particularly mentioned that more than 3000 Indian students receive education in Armenia. The importance of the North-South road corridor and its international significance was underlined. An agreement was reached to work on review and expanding the Memorandum of Cooperation between Armenia and India signed in 2005.

The Ambassador attached importance to the deepening of the Armenian-Indian relations as well and noted that a Friendship Group will be also formed in the Indian Parliament soon. Kishan Dan Dewal highlighted the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through peaceful negotiations and within the framework of the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.

New perspective directions of the bilateral cooperation were discussed, and the need for deepening the collaboration in different spheres was underlined.