India and Armenia on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on High Impact Community Development Projects in Armenia with financial and technical assistance from India, said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement. The MoU was signed at the 8th India-Armenia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological, Cultural and Educational Cooperation (IGC) held in Yerevan today. Secretary (West) Ministry of External Affairs, Sanjay Verma led the Indian delegation. The Armenian delegation was led by the Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, the official statement said. Taking to Twitter, Secretary (West) MEA, Sanjay Verma wrote, "Pleasure to call on FM Ararat Mirzoyan and co-chair the 8th India-Armenia Inter Gov Commission in Yerevan. We also signed a MoU on Developmental Projects. India's relations with Armenia are historical and closer than ever before." At the IGC, both sides discussed and reviewed the current state of cooperation in diverse fields such as trade, Investments, health, tourism, infrastructure, culture, connectivity, Information technology, agriculture, fintech and education. Secretary (West) also called on the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, Hambardzum Matevosyan. A Mahatma Gandhi Auditorium was later inaugurated at the Yerevan State Medical University (VSMU) along with Dr Armen Muradyan Rector of the University. Secretary (West) paid floral tributes to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. The Indian community in Armenia consists largely of over 700 students pursuing medical education at Yerevan State Medical University, which currently is the only University permitted by the Ministry of Education of Armenia to teach medicine in English medium. Secretary (West) also interacted with Indian students studying at the YSML. The 7th IGC was held in April 2016 and the 6th IGC and FOC were held in New Delhi on 25 September 2013. Prior to the IGC consultations, Secretary (West) was received by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan for a tete-a-tete, the statement said. Source: ANI  

  Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday met with his counterparts from Iran, Armenia and Uzbekistan and exchanged views on the recent developments in Afghanistan, confronting regional challenges and the ways to boost bilateral ties. Jaishankar, who is in the Tajik capital to attend a key meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on the situation in Afghanistan after its takeover by the Taliban last month, in a tweet said he was glad to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on the sidelines of the SCO meet in Dushanbe. “Discussed strengthening our bilateral relations and working together on regional challenges, he said. In his meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Jaishankar said the two leaders positively reviewed the bilateral cooperation and agreed to work together to expand it further. Good to meet FM Abdulaziz Kamilov of Uzbekistan. Our conversation focused on the Afghanistan situation. As countries combating terrorism and fundamentalism, our close cooperation is in mutual interest, he tweeted after his meeting with the foreign minister of Uzbekistan. The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, is an eight-member economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India has shown keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence. India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. Source: The Print