Monday, 19 September 2011
Prime Minister’s Brussels Visit Kicks Off
The Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan-led delegation’s visit to Brussels has kicked off.
First Tigran Sargsyan met with Mayor of Liege Willy Demeyer at his residence in Brussels. The Mayor of Liege briefed the Premier on his town development policy and asked for Armenia’s support in holding the International EXPO 2017 in Liege.
The Mayor said the development tempo of Liege, its economic growth and geographical position, as well as the existence of several diplomatic missions in Belgium are among the key factors behind the bid filed for the International EXPO 2017.
The venue of the next world exposition is to be decided on through the votes cast by 157 Bureau International des Expositions-member States inclusive of Armenia. Mr. Demeyer said to be glad for this first opportunity of introducing their programs to the Prime Minister of Armenia considering that an awareness raising campaign is already out for Liege.
Tigran Sargsyan invited Mr. Demeyer to visit Armenia in order to discuss details concerning the idea of holding the Expo 2017 in Liege.
Afterwards Tigran Sargsyan met with Chairman of Belgium-Armenia Trade Chamber Valery Safaryan. The parties discussed issues over holding of a “Belgium Week in Armenia” entitled Armenian-Belgian business forum in Yerevan on November 7-9.
The forum is expected to attract over 50 representatives from Belgian business circles who will take the opportunity to meet with their Armenian counterparts for a bilateral cooperation-related agenda. The forum will be attended by 3 different delegations representative of the Flemish, Walloon communities and the Agoria Business Club.
Valery Safaryan advised that while the Flemish community is specialized in construction, road building, diamond processing and sanitation activities, the Walloon community is experienced in the catering, power engineering, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in leather processing. The Belgian business circles were said to be keen on entering Armenia’s marketplace as the latter is deemed to be a regional hub by them.
Unlike the Flemish part, business people from the Walloon community are familiar with our country owing to ARMENWAL program as implemented jointly by the Walloon Foreign Trade and Investment Agency and the Armenian Development Agency.
On the second half of the day, Tigran Sargsyan will meet with European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Füle.
The Premier’s ongoing visit will be concluded by a meeting with the representatives of Armenian and European media outlets at the European Press Club.
