Monday, 21 November 2005
Today RA Prime minister A. Margaryan has received Minister of Public Welfare of Australia Joe Hoky and his delegation, which is in Armenia with the purpose of discussion with the management of our country of possibilities of rendering of consultation services in the system of medical insurance of Armenia at financing World-wide bank.
By greeting Mr. Hoky, the Prime minister stressed that it was a greatest pleasure for him to learn that the Australian minister had Armenian origins and, apart from business interests, an outright desire of paying a visit to the native land of his grandparents was behind this visit. For his part, Minister Hoky thanked the Prime minister and his government for the hectic two-day cultural program prepared for his delegation and the possibility of seeing the sights of Armenia and getting into direct dialogue with common people. He stressed that the larger part of his family had fallen victim to the 1915 Genocide of Armenians and, saved from slaughter, had emigrated to Syria and other countries to definitively find a refuge in Australia. The Minister noted with satisfaction that his father was still alive and that the director of the Museum - Institute of Armenian Genocide had promised to look for eventual evidences and mentions of concerning his family in the archive materials available. He also stressed that due to the efforts of the influential Australia-based Armenian community and rapidly developing bilateral relations of the two countries, the Armenian claims of Genocide was incresingly heard. In return, Prime Minister A. Margaryan confirmed the point of view of the Armenian authorities according to which the international condemnation of the Armenian Genocide was not an end in itself and was aiming the prevention of similar crimes in future. He informed his guest that Armenia felt the support of the world community in this matter.
With reference to Armenian-Australian relationships, the parties have noted that in spite of the geographical remoteness, strong ties of friendship had already been established between the two countries which had significant potential of expansion. In their opinion, the absence of serious political divergencies, the successful cooperation within the framework of international organizations could provide a sound basis for said expansion. Prime Minister A. Margaryan mentioned that highly appreciative of the role of Australia in the struggle against the new challenges facing the world community, such as international terrorism, proliferation of nuclear weapons, natural catastrophes, extreme poverty, as well as well cognizant of the importance of concerted action to opppose to the foregoing threats, Armenia was prepared to cooperate closely with Australia in both bilateral and multilateral formats. The interlocutors have placed a special focus on the development of bilateral trade and economic ties that could be streamlined and catalyzed by the Armenian trade mission operational in Sydney since 1997 where there is a big Armenian community. Considering that Australia was holding key positions on the world-wide economic market in the sphere of information and telecommunication technologies, innovative systems, business environment and human resource promotion, international tourism, the Prime minister emphasized the importance of communicating to Armenia the Australian know-how and expertise available in the indicated fields. Mr. A. Margaryan expressed hope that the health insurance-related discussions scheduled in the framework of visit would lead to positive results, which would help expand the mutually advantageous cooperation between two countries. The head of GoA welcomed the intention of the Australian side as the system of health insurance in our country was still in the stage of birth and needed special care.
The parties emphasized the important role of the numerous Armenian community of Australia in the matter developing bilateral relationship. The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation of the goodwill shown by the Government of Australia to the Armenian community and noted that this friendly attitude accounted for the well-being of Australian Armenians. He said that this could be evidenced by presence of Joe Hoky in the Australian cabinet. Minister Joe Hoky expressed similar opinion and reiterated that the availability of a numerous and influential Armenian community in Australia was conducive not only to the establishment of business ties and promotion of investments into the economy of Armenia, but also to the furtherance of cooperation in the cultural, scientific and other fields.
