On October 25, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan received the delegation led by Mayor of Marseilles, Senator Jean-Claude Gaudin. Among the members of the delegation are First Deputy Mayor of Marseilles Roland Blum, Deputy Mayor of Marseilles Didier Parakian, Head of the 13^th and 14^th Districts of Marseilles Garo Hovsepian and Deputy of the European Parliament Dominique Vlasto. French Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Henri Reynaud also attended the meeting.

The minister greeted the guests and expressed her satisfaction with the Armenian-French relations, the efforts of the French-Armenian community and the French-Armenians’ active participation in social life.

Issues related to bilateral cooperation and activities for the approval of draft laws on recognition of the Armenian Genocide and elimination of the consequences were discussed.

Jean-Claude Gaudin expressed gratitude for the reception and mentioned that the 80,000 Armenians of Marseilles are united, hard-working and do everything they can for the development and advancement of Armenia and France, as well as the cordial friendship. The mayor underlined that the Armenians play an important role in France’s economy. The cooperation with French-Armenians has led to the opening of the National School, which received positive feedback from the French. Currently, the school has 320 high achieving students.

In the end, Mayor of Marseilles Jean-Claude Gaudin presented the RA Minister of Diaspora with the Medal of Marseilles.