Thursday, March 2 2023 16:50

ArmInfo.. On March 2, RA NA Vice President, Head of Armenia-India Friendship Group Hakob Arshakyan  delivered a speech in India-Armenia Dialogue within the framework of the 8th Edition of Raisina Dialogue 2023 conference in Delhi.

As the press service of the RA NA reports, in his speech Arshakyan  noted, in part:  "We highly appreciate the statement by the Foreign  Ministry of India, underlining that Azerbaijani armed forces should  withdraw from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and  the condemnation voiced by the Indian side regarding the aggression  unleashed by Azerbaijan against Armenia last September and the  blockade of the Lachin Corridor since December.

We highly appreciate India's continuous support towards the peaceful  settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Azerbaijani armed forces continue to remain on sovereign Armenian  territory and, in addition, to the already existing difficulties, we  are currently facing the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh  resulting from Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor,  Azerbaijan's policy of subjecting Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic  cleansing, continuous provocations, as well as aspirations towards  the sovereign territory of Armenia. The warmongering rhetoric,  maximalist ambitions and aggressive actions of Azerbaijan undermine  Armenia's efforts to establish stability and peace in the South  Caucasus," Hakob Atshakyan documented.

The RA NA Vice President noted that India is an important pillar of  global and regional stability and a major power that rightly aspires  for a bigger role in international affairs.  Armenia supports India's  bid for obtaining permanent membership of the UN Security Council  within the ongoing reform agenda.

"Armenia values the balanced and stabilizing position of India in  these times of global turmoil. India's successful presidency in the  UN Security Council is a vivid example to this end, and we are  hopeful that the on-going presidencies of India in the G-20 and  Shanghai Cooperation Organization will contribute to regional and  global peace and stability to the same extent," Hakob Arshakyan said.  

Last year the 30 th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic  relations between Armenia and India was marked. Regarding the history  Hakob Arshakyan underlined that the Greek historian and politician  Xenophon wrote about Armenians living in India in 430-450 B.C.   According to the NA Vice President, the symbol of the traditionally  warm relations and mutual support between our peoples is considered  to be also the Armenian churches and educational-cultural  organizations founded in different cities of India.  

"Whilst traditionally warm relations and mutual support between our  peoples have continuously been strengthening during the past 30  years, the last three years were marked by a tremendous upward trend  in our relations," the NA Vice President noticed.  He stated the  political cooperation at ongoing high level between two countries: in  1964 the President of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in 1976 the  Prime Minister Indira Gandhi held political visits to Armenia, as  well as in 1995 and in 2003 - the visit of the first and second  Presidents of the Republic of Armenia to India.  

In 2021 India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held a  historic visit to Armenia, followed by the visit of Armenia's Foreign  Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to India the following year Hakob Arshakyan  underscored that we have revived the mechanism of political  consultations between our foreign offices and succeeded to organize  cooperation in the fields of Trade, Economy, Technology, Science,  Education and Culture.  

The RA NA Vice President stated the positive dynamics in the sphere  of economy: "We have witnessed positive dynamics in the economic  field as well. I must commend that the volumes of Armenia-India trade  turnover have increased essentially in recent years: in 2020 the  figure was 128.5 million US dollars, whilst in 2021 it was already at  216.1 and during the months of January-November of 2022 the number  has reached 315.4 million USD. However, these figures do not reflect  the full potential of our bilateral trade and economic cooperation,  and we yet expect a drastic increase in trade turnover volumes in the  coming years," Hakob Arshakyan noted.