"Naturally, I will be very interested in visiting Moscow as Armenia’s president in the near future. Armenian leaders traditionally pay their first official visits to Moscow. So far, no concrete date has been agreed," Sarkisyan noted.
He said that as Armenia’s president he saw it as his major task to strengthen strategic partnership with Russia, cement friendship between the two nations and encourage contacts between people.
"I would like to use this occasion to wish Vladimir Putin, who scored a landslide victory at the presidential elections in Russia, further big achievements in the development of the country’s economy, improvement of living standards in Russia and enhancement of its role on the global arena," TASS cited the president as saying.
Sarkissian who used to serve as Armenia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom was elected by the parliament on March 2. Prior to the constitutional reform that followed the 2015 referendum, Armenian presidents were elected by direct and universal suffrage. When all constitutional amendments finally come into force, Armenia will complete its transition to a parliamentary form of government, with the prime minister exercising executive authority and the president performing mainly representative functions and being in charge of control over compliance with the constitution.
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