SYDNEY & CANBERRA: Edward Nalbandian, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, completed his first official visit to Australia at the invitation of the Australian government.
The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) had the pleasure of attending several key events, which were hosted in honour of Nalbandian during his stay in Sydney and Canberra.
Through its large network of friends at both State and Federal levels, ANC Australia was able to ensure a bipartisan involvement by members of parliament who reiterated the important role the organisation has played in promoting and advancing issues of importance to the Armenian-Australian community.
During his visit to Canberra, Nalbandian held high-level meetings with Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr. Nalbandian personally thanked his counterpart for his activities aimed at the recognition of the Armenian Genocide when he was Premier of New South Wales.
Nalbandian also met with the Speaker of the Parliament, Peter Slipper along with the Geoff Lyons and Joe Hockey, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Australia-Armenia Parliament Friendship Group.
During his meeting with the leaders of the Group, Nalbandian was presented with their activities aimed at the development of bilateral relations of the two countries, and the works of the Group towards the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Australian Parliament.
At the conclusion of these meetings a luncheon was hosted by Bob Carr in honor of Nalbandian, which was attend by members of the Armenian community including Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Vache Kahramanian.
“I come to express my appreciation on behalf of the Armenian-Australian community to our friends in Federal Parliament as they continue pursuing issues of great importance to our community,” Kahramanian said.
“We look forward to working with our friends as we continue to expand the relationship between Australia and Armenia and at the same time ensuring the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Parliament of Australia.”
