FRENCH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC ARRIVES IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: The press office of the Armenian President said today French President Jacques Chirac will pay a state visit to Armenia from September 29 to October 1. Chirac is coming at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart President Robert Kocharian.

Kocharian’s press office said the French delegation includes foreign minister Phillip Douste Blazy, transport, tourism and seafaring minister Dominique Perben, state service minister Christian Jacob and culture and communication minister Reno Donedio de Vabre.

President Chirac will be accompanied also by a vats delegation of French businessmen, prominent representatives of art, culture, academic and sport communities, members of the French Armenian community and journalists.

The official welcoming ceremony will be held at Yerevan Zvartnots airport . Chirac and Kocharian will speak to reporters after talks at Kocharian’s residence. The French delegation will lay flowers to the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan to commemorate the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide. The French President will then be welcomed by His Holiness Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. President Chirac will also meet with the staff of the French embassy in Yerevan.

Kocharian and Chirac will participate also in the official opening of France Square in central Yerevan and will attend an open-air concert of the famous French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour in Republic Square. All these evens will give the start of the Year of Armenia in France held under the motto ‘Armenia is My Friend.”