On a working visit to Tokyo, President of the Republic of Armenia Armen Sarkissian met today with the Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga.
The Prime Minister welcomed the working visit of the President of Armenia to Japan and thanked him for participating in the official opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
President Sarkissian congratulated the Prime Minister on the successful organization of the Olympic Games in an unprecedented situation, noting that he was impressed with the opening ceremony and the high level of organization of the event.
During the meeting, Armen Sargkissian and Yoshihide Suga touched upon the bilateral agenda and the opportunities for deepening the Armenian-Japanese relations. The parties noted that there is a great potential for the expansion of bilateral trade and economic relations, which has not been fully tapped.
President Sarkissian stressed that Armenia is interested in expanding relations with Japan. The President noted that as member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia, with its stable financial system, can serve as a base for Japanese companies to enter the markets of Eurasian countries. He added that Japanese companies can be involved in projects implemented in various sectors of Armenia, in particular the EU-financed programs to be launched.
President Sarkissian emphasized the cooperation with Japanese companies in the fields of innovation, food security, high technologies, artificial intelligence. Speaking about the ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) presidential initiative aimed at the development of science and technology in Armenia, the President noted that he would be glad to cooperate with Japanese companies and implement joint programs within the framework of the initiative. He noted that for this purpose he plans to meet with the management of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to discuss cooperation opportunities.
The President also touched upon the cooperation in the environmental sphere and the importance of the implementation of a joint program to improve the environmental condition of Lake Sevan.
Armen Sarkissian also thanked the Government of Japan for its assistance to programs in various fields.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga noted that Japan is also interested in deepening bilateral relations and cooperation. He stressed that the activities of the famous Japanese figure Eiichi Shibusawa are a good example of friendship between the two peoples, and the Japanese side is ready to develop bilateral relations.
The parties stressed the need to give a new quality to the Armenian-Japanese relations, to start a new page of cooperation. In order to get acquainted with each other’s potential, opportunities, develop target projects, President Sarkissian proposed to create a joint Armenian-Japanese structure named after Eiichi Shibusawa with the participation of Armenian-Japanese companies.
The meeting also touched upon multilateral cooperation within international organizations.
