Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has attended a sod-turning ceremony for a new building of the country’s embassy in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
Construction of the new Armenian embassy in Brazil, which is being carried out at the expense of the family of prominent Brazilian-Armenian community member and benefactor Hilda Diruhy Burmaian, who is also Armenia’s honorary consul in Sao Paulo, is expected to be completed within 12 months.
Brazil’s Foreign Minister Jose Serra, foreign ambassadors accredited to the country, senior diplomats and representatives of the local Armenian community attended the ceremony, the press office of the Armenian head of state said.
Minister Serra reportedly praised Brazilian-Armenian ties, stressing that the ceremony for the establishment of a new Armenian embassy will become “a basis for new, promising relations.”
Read also
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, for his part, said: “The visit of President Sarkisian creates an efficient basis for new promising initiatives and enrichment of our common agenda, raising Armenian-Brazilian relations to a qualitatively new level.”
Sarkisian arrived in Brazil on a working visit on August 10. Apart from meetings with the country’s officials, Sarkisian on August 13 also met with an Armenian athletic delegation taking part in the 31st Summer Olympic Games in Rio-de-Janeiro.
At the meeting where he was accompanied by the head of the National Olympic Committee and his former political opponent Gagik Tsarukian, the Armenian leader reportedly expressed his confidence that Armenian athletes will have achievements at the current Olympics, stressing that achievements in sports make the nation more recognizable abroad.