Monday, 24 October 2005
Today RA Prime Pinister A. Margaryan has received the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Japan to Armenia Ysei Nomura-led delegation of Japanese entrepreneurs in attendance of the Armenian-Japanese business roundtable.
Welcoming the guests to the roundtable, the Prime Minister expressed hope that this forum of business cyrcles of the two countries would promote bilateral trade and economic exchanges, direct investment and would help establish new and prospective business ties which, according to him, were in full line with the priorities set by the Armenian government in the field of economy. He said to be looking upon this forum as a further evidence of the friendship between the two countries and as an immediate follow-up to his June visit to Japan, during which the Armenian delegation taken part in "Expo-2005" world exposition in Aichi and attended the official opening of Armenia's stand. The Prime Minister took the opportunity to express his gratitude to the Japanese side for the warm reception extended during said visit and the high organizational standard of the meetings held.
For his part, Ambassador Ysei Nomura thanked the Prime Minister for the warm reception rendered to this representative delegation of Japanese businessmen and the good organization of the roundtable. Having stressed that "Expo-2005" at which Armenia was represented with a separate stand, had been a complete success, Mr. Margaryan expressed confidence that if held regularly, events like this would go a long way towards the strengthening of the Armenian-Japanese friendship, deepening of economic ties and establishing ever-closer direct linkages between the business circles of the two countries.
Ambassador Nomura and the Japanese businessmen mentioned that information technologies, chemical industry, power engineering, jewel and precious metal processing, food-processing industry, as well as tourism, culture and sport were among the most prospective areas of bilateral cooperation. Having noted that Japan was seeking to intensify trade and economic relations with CIS countries inclusive of Armenia, they said having collected more comprehensive information on the capacities available in Armenia in the above spheres during the first Armenian-Japanese roundtable held in Moscow on June 24, 2005. In this context, the need for regular exchange of information on economic potentialities of the two countries was emphasized on either side. Prime Minister Margaryan and Ambassador Nomura noted that the relations between Armenia and Japan were developing in the spirit of friendship and mutual understanding and had considerable potential for further expansion. The head of GoA emphasized the desire of the Armenian side to raise the Armenian-Japanese dialogue to a new qualitative level based on the pre-requisites available. Noting that Japan was one of largest donor countries, the Prime minister emphasized the significance of the Japanese assistance rendered to Armenia within the framework of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) which covered grants, technical aid, cultural, research and small grants, soft loans and so on. By mentioning, in particular, the intergovernmental agreement on the cooperation in the field of power engineering signed in March of the current year in Yerevan, he expressed his appreciation for the USD150MN preferential loan extended to GoA, which he said was the largest-ever such facility made available to Armenia by international donors and was instrumental to the furtherance of the ongoing economic reforms.
At the same time, readiness was expressed on either side to make consistent efforts to gradually shift over from humanitarian assistance towards mutually advantageous cooperation supported by direct investments. They expressed confidence that the holding of similar business fora was an important step in this direction.
At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister wished every success and further achievements to the mission of Japanese businessmen.
