The delegation headed by Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet which is in Armenia with an official visit was hosted in Yerevan Municipality. The First Deputy Mayor, Acting Mayor Levon Hovhannisyan, Deputy Mayors Tigran Avinyan, Suren Grigoryan, the head of “My Step” faction of Yerevan Council of Elders Armen Galjyan, head of “Prosperous Armenia” faction Mikael Manrikyan, head of “Luys” faction David Khazhakyan participated in the extended meeting.
Greeting the guests, the Acting Mayor expressed gratitude to Lyon Mayor for accepting the invitation and visiting Yerevan. Levon Hovhannisyan expressed confidence that Gregory Doucet’s visit will give a new impetus to cooperation expansion and implementation of joint programs.
The Armenian-French relationship is on the highest level and the city authorities highly appreciate the partnership and friendship with Lyon. Levon Hovhannisyan noted that they already can start working out the draft agreement for upcoming three years and have concrete cooperation in the fields of transport, traffic management and urban development as well as in culture, tourism, education and others.
Deputy Mayor Tigran Avinyan in his turn stressed the importance of the friendly relation existing between the two countries and touched upon the implementation of two projects which will become key points in further interaction between Yerevan and Lyon.
“Accumulation of the best experience is a fine opportunity to form a competitive generation. Our future belongs to the young so it is highly important to implement youth exchange programs. “Yerevanproject” company and Lyon Municipality had worked out the reconstruction project of Kond. And today we have the opportunity to bring this project to life preserving the historical peculiarities of the quarter”, stressed Tigran Avinyan.
Having thanked for the invitation and warm welcome, Gregory Doucet marked that Lyon attaches particular importance to cooperation expansion with Yerevan and expressed hope that the visit will make it possible to outline the sequence of steps the cities are to follow.
“A healthy city, prosperous life and responsible economy: these are the important challenges our cities have to overcome. I am certain that joining our efforts we will be able to bring to life all the programs we outline in the framework of Yerevan and Lyon cooperation. This is my first visit to Yerevan and I am happy to be involved in the process of strengthening and developing the ties between the two cities”, said Gregory Doucet.
During the meeting the parties also exchanged thoughts related to working out the tree-year program to be signed between Yerevan and Lyon.