PM: Armenia eager to deepen political, economic and cultural ties with France
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia received on Tuesday a delegation led by Laurent Wauquiez, President of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Council (France), his office reported.
Welcoming the guests, Pashinyan said: “Our peoples are bound by deeply-rooted historical ties, warm friendship and privileged relations. The role of the Armenian community in France is of great importance in this respect, a sizeable part of which is settled in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region. Armenia is eager to deepen political, economic, cultural ties and human bonds with France. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is an economic leader in France and I am confident that we will find areas of mutual interest for cooperation.”
The PM described the ongoing decentralized Armenian-French cooperation as quite effective and successful, noting that there are several memorandums of cooperation signed between nearly 30 Armenian and French cities, more than a dozen of which represent the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. Decentralized Armenian-French partnership forums are being held, the next session of which is due next fall in Lyon, France.
With reference to current interaction, Pashinyan highlighted the launch of Yerevan-Lyon-Yerevan direct flight since April, 2018, the educational programs implemented jointly with Lyon, featuring on the one hand the mutually beneficial cooperation between Jean Moulin Lyon 3 and the French University of Armenia and, on the other hand, Yerevan Architectural University and Saint Etienne National School of Engineering. Another success story is the French-Armenian vocational training center in Yerevan.