Within the official visit to Italy, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian had a meeting with Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome.
Thanking for the hospitality and emphasizing that he came to Rome from another ancient city, President Sarkissian mentioned that the purpose of his visit to Italy is the forward development of the cooperative relationships between Rome and Yerevan.
“Taking the opportunity, I want to tell that together, we can do many things. We have a great potential for cooperation, especially in the spheres of culture, education, preservation of the historical heritage.”
The mayor mentioned that they will be happy to deepen the cooperation and friendship with Armenia.
“The centuries of history of our nations is a great basis for developing the future cooperation.”
The mayor said that they are ready to share their experience and knowledge of preserving historical heritage with their relatives.
During the meeting, the deepening of the cultural connections between the two capitals, the implementation of cooperative events and programs were valued, the necessity of activating contacts were stressed.
The Armenian President thanked the municipality of Rome for giving consent to the Armenian side for installing Hovhannes Tumanyan’s bust in Sant Andrea Park next to the Italian Presidential Palace in Rome and expressed hope that the bust of the great Armenian writer will become one of the testimonies of the Armenian-Italian friendship.
President Sarkissian highly appreciated the unanimous recognition of the Armenian genocide by the city council of Rome in 2000. At the same time, he valued the installation of the bronze monument “Armenian mother” by Armenian sculptor Vigen Avetis dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in the park dedicated to Armenian Genocide.
At the end of the meeting, the President made a note in the book of the honorary guests of the Roman municipality.
