Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian Visits Canada

18 October, 2006

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia H.E. Mr. Vartan Oskanian, was in Canada for a two-day working visit on October 17-18. In a meeting with his Canadian counterpart, the Hon. Peter MacKay Mr. Oskanian discussed the current status of bilateral relations between Armenia and Canada, as well as other issues of mutual interest.

Minister Oskanian in particular called for more active involvement of Canada in the region of South Caucasus, putting emphasis on Canada’s high international reputation in such areas as human rights advocacy, arms control, peace-keeping, multiculturalism, genocide prevention and others. He informed Mr. MacKay about the current status of Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations and Armenian-Turkish relations. Mr. Oskanian also expressed gratitude for Canada’s official recognition of the Armenian Genocide on all levels of legislative and executive power.

In honour of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia the Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group (CAPFG) hosted an official luncheon in the Parliament. The luncheon was attended by a large number of House of Commons and Senate members. The Armenian Foreign Minister was welcomed by the CAPFG Chairman, Mr. Gary Goodyear (MP - Cambridge), who emphasized that the high turnout of Parliamentarians demonstrates the positive relationship that exists between Armenia and Canada and illustrates a strong commitment from the Canadian side to developing bilateral relations with Armenia.

Mr. Jason Kenney, Parliamentary Secretary of the Prime Minister of Canada, welcomed Mr. Oskanian on behalf of the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Hon. Stephen Harper, and wished him a successful visit.

After thanking the CAPFG and for a very warm reception, Mr. Oskanian spoke about the purpose of his visit, saying that Armenia cherishes its good relations and cooperation with Canada and wants to further develop and strengthen them in all areas. He put a special emphasis on the role of parliamentarians in those processes, and welcomed the re-establishment of all-party CAPFG in the Canadian Parliament.

At a reception hosted by the Armenian Embassy in Ottawa, Mr. Oskanian also met the representatives of Armenian organizations from Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. He spoke about the current state of the Canadian-Armenian relations, as well as recent developments in Armenia. He expressed positive opinion about the results of the third Armenia-Diaspora Conference and gave the latest update on the “Rural Poverty Eradication Programme” launched recently by the Armenian Government. The Minister stressed that both Armenia and Diaspora should focus on issues and problems that unite the two parts of the Armenian nation in order to be able to solve them most effectively.

After concluding the official part of his visit, Mr. Vartan Oskanian participated in a conference entitled “Capacity Building for Peace and Development: Roles of Diaspora” organized in Toronto by the United Nations University for Peace. The conference assembled around 100 international experts and leaders to reflect on the potential for supporting, engaging and mobilizing Diasporas in peace building and development. Mr. Oskanian delivered the keynote speech during the session dedicated to the challenges and opportunities of dual identity of the transnational communities, as well as participated in a working group focused on the Armenian Diaspora’s engagement with the Republic of Armenia.

Read the keynote speech by H.E. Mr. Vartan Oskanian at the conference

View photo gallery

MFA RA
official website

Dual citizenship

Electronic visa

Visa applications