Foreign Minister Diana Mondino received at Palacio San Martin her counterpart from the Republic of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, as part of his official visit to our country with a delegation made up of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Davit Karapetyan; the Secretary of the Central and South America division at the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hasmik Harutyunya; the Advisor, Robert Abisoghomonyan; and the Spokesperson, Ani Badalyan. The Armenian Ambassador to Argentina, Hovhannés Virabyan, also participated in the meeting.
During the meeting, the Ministers carried out an extensive review of the various topics that make up the rich bilateral relationship, in particular the possibilities for cooperation on education, agriculture, peaceful use of nuclear energy for medical purposes, and scientific-technological purposes, in general.
Concerning the bilateral economic relationship, Argentine investments in Armenia -on strategic sectors such as airport infrastructure, finance and agriculture- position our country among the 10 top investors.
Furthermore, both Foreign Ministers discussed bilateral technical cooperation (particularly dynamic in the agricultural field) through a horticultural project executed by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) with the support of the Argentine Fund for International Cooperation (FO.AR).
On educational matters, Minister Mirzoyan referred to the Center for Creative Technologies of Armenia (TUMO), an institution in his country that offers free educational programs in technology and design, computing, communications and programming, among other frontier disciplines; and offered Minister Mondino to explore possible fields of collaboration.
Additionally, Mirzoyan added that the Armenian diplomatic academy recently launched an exchange program aimed at young South American diplomats, and invited the National Foreign Service Institute (ISEN) to consider the possibility of evaluating a collaborative action.
Argentina’s top diplomat was accompanied by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Leopoldo Sahores; the Undersecretary for International Economic Negotiations and Integration, Gabriel Arturo Martínez; the Undersecretary of American Affairs and former Argentine Ambassador to Armenia, Mariano Vergara; and ISEN Academic Director, Carlos Starmanns.
According to the latest available figures, in 2023 bilateral trade in goods between Argentina and Armenia reached USD 43 million, with a surplus balance for Argentina of USD 40 million. The year-over-year growth of Argentine exports to the Caucasian country was +470%, an increase mainly explained by the shipment of hard cheeses, mozzarella and dried leaf tobacco. Between January and September 2023, trade in services between the two countries amounted to USD 1.1 million, with a surplus balance for Argentina for the same amount.
Argentina and Armenia established diplomatic relations in 1992, having thus commemorated in 2022 the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties. Armenia has had diplomatic representation in our country since May 1994, and Argentina in Armenia since May 201
