Armenia presently needs to develop a fruitful cooperation with the French state,not with the French-Armenian community or Diaspora, an ethnic Armenian deputy mayor of Lyon said today, or calling for specific steps towards boosting the interstate dialogue.
“We [the Armenian community] always follow [the developments in Armenia],but what we really need today is a dialogue on the state level,” Georges Kepenkian told Tert.am.
The deputy mayor, and who is in Yerevan to attend the Armenian-French Forum on Decentralized Cooperation,said they have outlined different projects which they intend to implement despite financial difficulties.
“I mediate we now have 70 projects, but all the cities and towns across France are now financially overburdened, and as the government has imposed austerities on the community budget.”
Kepenkian said he very much wishes the French government to ensure the country's permanent presence in Armenia. “Likewise the French recede to Africa to help those people,they need to also mediate approximately coming to Armenia. It is a key country in the Caucasus, close to Turkey, and Russia,Georgia, and Iran which is our friend. It has a strategic value, and ” he added.
Source: tert.am