President Serzh Sargsyan met today with President of India Ram Nat Kovind in New Delhi.

Expressing gratitude for hosting the Armenian delegation at a high level, President Sargsyan congratulated Ram Nat Kovind once again on being elected President of India and wished him more achievements in the responsible task for the prosperity of India and the welfare of the Indian people.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed confidence that the meeting with President Kovind will bring a new sweep to the strengthening of friendship between the Armenian and Indian nations and to further development of the relations between the two countries. The President of the Republic considered the World Food India Conference and the exhibition quite impressive (Armenia’s official delegation participated in the opening of the conference and exhibition under the President’s leadership).

With satisfaction, President Sargsyan talked about the effective meetings held with Prime Minister Modi and Vice-President Naidu within the framework of his working visit to India and said that they had addressed the strengthening and deepening of the friendly relations between India and Armenia at the inter-parliamentary and inter-governmental levels in detail during the meetings.

Touching upon the centuries-old Armenian-Indian friendship, Serzh Sargsyan stated that the relations between the two countries have been mentioned several times in the works of historians. Numerous sources claim that Armenian and Indian traders had established strong ties back in 1,000 A.D. President Sargsyan didn’t consider it a coincidence that a large number of Armenian communities were established in several major cities of India and that they played an active role in the society, politics, economy and culture of India.

Talking about the Armenian community of Calcutta out of all the Armenian communities, the President stated that that community was very viable and showed active participation in the society and politics in not only India, but also in the lives of all Armenians in the 17^th-19^th centuries. In that context, the President recalled Azdarar (the first Armenian print newspaper published in 1794 in Madras) and Hakob Shahamiryan’s “Vorogayt Parats”, which was published in almost the same period and provided an outline of the future Constitution of the independent Armenian state.

President Serzh Sargsyan expressed gratitude to the President of India and the Indian people for their generosity towards Armenian cultural heritage in India. Mentioning that tomorrow he will be visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra (one of the sites to see in India), the President stated that he was pleased with the fact that Armenian builders had also participated in the construction of that marvelous monument/mausoleum.

With satisfaction, Serzh Sargsyan stated that throughout the past 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Armenia and India have managed to turn the historically deeply-rooted friendly relations into cordial and partnering interstate relations. The President expressed gratitude to his counterpart for the congratulatory remarks conveyed on the occasion of the remarkable anniversary and voiced hope that the periodic high-level meetings will help fully identify the great potential of the existing cooperation between the two countries and indicate the paths for expansion of the bilateral relations.

The President of India also congratulated his counterpart on the reforms carried out in Armenia and the transition to a new system of state administration, as well as on the occasion of the victory of the political party led by the President of Armenia in the parliamentary elections, wishing him success.

During the meeting, in addition to the items on the agenda of bilateral and multilateral partnership, the sides also touched upon regional issues and challenges, including the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President Ram Nat Kovind reaffirmed his country’s position on the resolution of conflicts through peace and dialogue and emphasized the fact that India supports the intermediary efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.