Armenian President Armen Sarkissian had a phone conversation with the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, late on 13 March.

After their meeting in Munich in February this year, the President of the Republic and the WHO Director General again touched upon the current state and trends of the spread of the new coronavirus in Armenia, its possible consequences, as well as measures aimed at the prevention and treatment of infection.

President Sarkissian expressed gratitude for the technical and professional support provided by the organization to Armenia during the Munich meeting.

The WHO’s declaration of a pandemic speaks about the complexity of the situation and highlights the need to combine international and national efforts in this situation, the need for joint and coordinated action by States, in particular on border control, population mobility and mutual assistance, which is particularly important in Armenia. In this context, the WTO Director-General emphasised that the organization will keep the situation in Armenia in focus.

The President noted that he agreed with the WTO Director’s approach related to the need to develop national strategies for prevention and response by states and informed that an interdepartmental commission was set up to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Armenia, and that the action plans would be valuable, as well as the directions of the national strategies proposed by the organization and also active involvement of WTO experts. The President also highlighted the advisory activities of WHO specialists already in Armenia, noting the need to ensure its continuity and to involve additional specialists and experts.

The President of Armenia considered it necessary to increase the effectiveness of measures to control the spread of the new coronavirus infection as quickly as possible around the world.

The parties agreed that this requires understanding of the seriousness of the problem, self-organization, high responsibility and discipline by the authorities and the population.

The President of the Republic and the Director General of the WHO also spoke about the research on overcoming the disease through innovation and training, in particular the new coronavirus diagnosis, vaccine development and treatment.

The WTO Director-General gladly accepted the invitation of the President of the Republic to visit Armenia in the near future.

President Sarkissian proposes WTO Director-General to participate in the framework of the “Armenian Summit of Minds” scheduled for 6-8 June, in a discussion on innovative ways of preventing and treating new coronavirus, as well as of vital importance for states in pandemic situations.

The President of the Republic and the WTO Director General agreed to exchange information on a regular basis.

It should be noted that the phone conversation was preceded by the conversation of the President of Armenia with the RA Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan, who presented the necessary information on the new coronavirus in Armenia. After the telephone conversation, the President informed the Minister of the arrangements made with the WTO Director-General and the recommendations by the latter.