Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan joined the Glendale City Council on Wednesday to sign a friendship agreement with the city of Martuni in Artsakh.
Welcoming Babayan was Glendale Mayor Ardashes Kassakhian, who was joined by fellow city council members, Ara Najarian, Paula Devine, Elen Asatryan and Dan Brotman in making a unanimous decision by the city council a reality.
Babayan voiced his gratitude to the citizens of Glendale and the city officials for always making Artsakh a focal point and emphasized that it was highly appreciated by the people of Artsakh.
Babayan also highlighted the importance of cooperation between Martuni and Glendale within the socio-economic and humanitarian sectors. He added that the cooperation with Glendale would definitely have a positive impact on the development of the regional center of Martuni.
Babayan, who was accompanied by Artsakh’s Deputy Culture Minister Lernik Hovhannisyan and Artsakh’s Permanent Representative to the U.S. Robert Avetisyan, also visited the city of Montebello and met with its mayor, Kimberly Ann Cobos-Cawthorne.
Ahead of his meeting with city officials, Babayan and his delegation visited the Montebello Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument.
A range of issues related to the Montebello-Artsakh relations were discussed during the meeting with Mayor Cobos-Cawthrone and other city officials. Babayan stressed that the people of Artsakh consider relations with Montebello important, and appreciate the twin-city agreement between Stepanakert and Montebello, which has played a significant role in the development of bilateral relations for years.
Later on Wednesday evening, Babayan made a presentation entitled “The Foreign Policy of Artsakh and the State-Building Process” at UCLA in an event organized by the Promise Armenian Institute.
