On June 8, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan received Mayor of Willoughby (New South Wales) Gale Gales-Gidney; Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Australia and New Zealand, His Grace, Fr. Bishop Haigazoun Najarian and vice-chairman of the diocesan council, Chairman of the State Committee on Minority Affairs and President of the Anti-Discrimination Board Stepan Kerkyasharian.

The city of Willoughby, the mayor of which is Gale Gales-Gidney, has established sisterly ties with the Nor Nork Administrative District of Yerevan through the Educational and Cultural Support to Armenian Communities Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora. Mrs. Gales-Gidney was elected mayor of Willoughby on April 12, 2014, becoming the 50^th mayor of the 150-year-old city of Willoughby.

Greeting the guests, the Minister of Diaspora attached importance to the enhancement of the friendly relations between Armenia and Australia and particularly noted the following: “I am impressed with the efforts of the government and local authorities of Australia, thanks to which the Armenians of Australia are the best citizens of the country, while they continue to stay true to their roots and preserve their identity, religion, language, culture and national traditions. We must enhance the economic and cultural relations between our two countries, and you are already doing that as a sister city.”

The guests expressed gratitude for the cordial reception and the substantial meeting. The scopes and areas of cooperation were also discussed.