Republican Party of Armenia

 President Serzh Sargsyan having arrived in the Republic of Chile on an official visit held a meeting with President Michelle Bachelet of Chile on July 11.

Before that, the Armenian President laid a wreath at the Memorial to the Chilean national hero General Bernardo O'Higgins and paid tribute to his memory.

After the official welcoming ceremony of the RA President, Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Michelle Bachelet held a meeting at the seat of Chilean President- Moneda.

Presidents of Armenia and Chile discussed a wide range of issues with regard to strengthening the Armenian-Chilean interstate relations and making joint efforts at promoting cooperation in a number of promising areas.

Noting with regret that since the independence of Armenia the relations between Armenia and Chile have fallen short of desired outcome, the interlocutors agreed that nowadays geographical distance can’t be an obstacle to the development of the bilateral relations, especially considering that the two peoples have embraced the same set of values. The RA President underscored that his visit is targeted at filling up this gap and starting a new phase of relations aimed at further developing the bilateral relations.

At the meeting, the parties attached importance to establishing a legal and contractual basis between Armenia and Chile which, according to them, will open up new prospects for promoting both political and trade and economic collaboration.

In this context President Serzh Sargsyan welcomed the business seminar held in Yerevan one month ago during which the Armenian businessmen interested in the Latin American region were presented opportunities of establishing business ties with Chile.

The mutual collaboration in a number of spheres, including agriculture and especially wine making was considered promising. In the context of broadening the Armenian-Chilean cooperation the two presidents attached great weight to encouraging and promoting collaboration in the spheres of science and education, culture, tourism and sports. These are the areas which can stimulate active contacts and mutual recognition between the two friendly peoples.

The RA President noted that in terms of reinforcing the interstate ties it is also important that Armenia and Chile have taken similar positions and stances toward the issues of universal importance. According to Serzh Sargsyan, the striking illustration of this was the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Chile in 2007 thereby wining the sympathy and respect of all Armenians as an honest and reliable friend.

The presidents stressed the modest and at the same time the unique role of the small Armenian community of Chile in developing friendly relations between the two countries.

At the end of the meeting, in the presence of the two countries’ presidents the Armenian and Chilean foreign affairs ministers signed the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding on Cooperation between the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the RCH Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later on, on behalf of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet an official dinner was held in honor of the President Serzh Sargsyan having arrived in the Republic of Chile on an official visit.

In her toast, President Michelle Bachelet once again welcomed the RA President and the delegation led by him to Chile and underscored that she considered it a great honor to host the President of the Republic of Armenia having arrived in Chile on his first official visit: “As you know, Mr. President, Armenians took up their residence in Chile already in the 19th century. Generally speaking, Chile is the country which always grants asylum to the people coming here. They have been widely involved and have managed to fully integrate into our society since the Chilean society is very tolerant and respectful. As you saw and as I mentioned during our today’s conversation, Chileans of Armenian descent have made a major contribution to the crystallization and development of the Chilean society in the spheres of policy, economy, business, culture and sports. In fact, when I was the defense minister we had an admiral called Hernan Kuyumjyan. Chile would like to express its gratitude for the assistance rendered by Armenians.

Today, our diplomatic relations have elevated to a new maturity level which means that they should be further enhanced politically. We want to take one more step in order to reduce the geographical distance. We should not let that distance to separate us; on the contrary, we should be able to cooperate both in the trade and economic spheres. As I said during our meeting, Chile has managed to promote economic relations with many countries and sign free trade agreements thereby developing its own economy. And we can continue such cooperation taking into account the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding, which was concluded between our two foreign affairs ministries. That memorandum will give us an opportunity to further officialize our political relations and consultations, as well as to set the stage for trade and economic relations.

Honorable Mr. President, I would like to express my satisfaction with your visit and your presence, which gives us a chance to discuss and seek new ways of cooperation.

Now, I would like to raise a toast to the friendship between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Chile and to our new cooperation,” said the Chilean President at the end of her toast.

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Toast by President Serzh Sargsyan at an official dinner held on behalf of President Michelle Bachelet of the Republic of Chile