YEREVAN. – This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and India. Armenian News-NEWS.am interviewed India’s ambassador to Armenia, H.E. Yogeshwar Sangwan about the high-level visits as well as prospects for the development of economic ties.
This year was marked by high-level visits. Vice President of India Mr. Hamid Ansari visited Armenia in April. Later on President Sargsyan visited India in November. What are the key arrangements that were reached during the visits? How did they affect relations between our countries?
Yes, it was a very important year. It marked the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations. We had Vice President’s visit in April and there was Armenian president’s visit in November. The sides agreed to enhance bilateral relations in all spheres: in political, economic spheres, people-to-people contacts, cultural sphere. Armenian president in particular discussed economic cooperation in various areas: defense, science and technology, IT, food processing. Our countries can develop cooperation in diamond polishing and mining. The great achievement was political contacts. Now these visits will lead little by little to various cooperation proposals. For example, Armenia has already lifted visas, the move which will promote tourism. We will see the other results in the coming years.
Bilateral trade turnover between our countries has increased. What are the main areas where we have intensified the bilateral trade? Is there potential to uncover some new areas where we have not been working so far?
We want to establish relations in almost all areas, primarily to promote trade on meat products, pharmaceuticals. We can now focus on jewelry, food processing. We can have investments from India into Armenia’s food processing sector and vice versa.
In his interview to Indian television, President Sargsyan said the countries are going to launch visa facilitation. Do you have any data about the number of Indian tourists visiting Armenia and Armenian tourists visiting India?
This is a very short period. I do not have the exact data now, but last year about 2,000 Indians visited Armenia. In addition, 4,000 Indians from the Gulf countries visited Armenia. The figure is much less when we speak about tourists from Armenia to India.
Every year Yerevan traditionally hosts Indian fair that is very popular among the locals. Are there any cultural events that India is planning to hold in the near future? In the same interview, President Sargsyan said an Indian movie had been shot in Armenia. Has this film been screened in Armenia? If yes, what was the feedback?
I suppose the film will be released in December in south India. As to the cultural events, We plan to organize an exhibition of Indian music and dances, sari exhibition. We also plan to have in Yerevan an exhibition of the works of the Aslamazyan sisters as well as a display of Armenian heritage in India. Of course, there is a Bollywood week that we also had last year and aflash mob on Northern Avenue featuring Indian dances.