OREANDA-NEWS. May 05, 2011. President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan Hisasu Tokunaga.

 The President of Armenia once again expressed his condolences on the March 11 devastating earthquake in Japan, which claimed many lives and caused devastation. He noted that, unfortunately, in 1988 the Armenian people too felt the wrath of natural disaster. According to Serzh Sargsyan, that is probably one of the reasons why the people of Armenia were particularly upset by the tragedy in Japan. “We admire the courage and resilience of your people in the face of this enormous blow. We certainly follow closely steps undertaken by the Japanese government toward the elimination of the consequences of the accident at the Fukusima-1 nuclear station and remain hopeful that you will be able to remove them all,” President Serzh Sargsyan said.

 President Sargsyan also expressed hope that even though Japan is currently having difficult times, it will not interfere with the works aimed at the invigoration of our bilateral relations, which the Armenian side enahnced by opening last June the Embassy of Armenia in Tokyo.

 The Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan expressed gratitude to President Sargsyan for the words of compassion and warm attitude toward the people of Japan and provided assistance and assured that despite all difficulties, Japan will carry on with its assistance programs in Armenia. Hisasu Tokunaga noted that he was visiting Armenia for the first time in his official capacity and has no doubt that the meetings held in the framework of this visit will strengthen the development of the Armenian-Japanese cooperation in different areas.