The President of the Republic, Vahagn Khachaturyan, met with the US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Verma, within the framework of the Armenia-US Local Self-Government Forum on Democracy. The President noted that the Deputy Secretary of State's visit to Armenia was welcome.

"Your visit is essential to increasing the role of decentralized cooperation. I know very well what it means from personal experience. I appreciate your visit and your special attention to this initiative.

I would like to emphasize that the government of our country pays special attention to the equal development of Armenia's territories. The idea and implementation of community enlargement are also aimed at this, and we are already seeing the results.

We are very interested in using Armenia's development potential fully outside of Yerevan. In this sense, this event and initiative are very important. Thank you once again for your visit."

He expressed gratitude for the warm welcome, and Richard Verma said, "It is a great honor to meet you. This is my first visit to Armenia, but I have been working on building relations with your country for many years. It's great to be here with my colleagues. This is a critical period in our relationship."

During the meeting, issues related to the promotion of multilateral cooperation between Armenia and the United States were discussed. Both sides emphasized the importance of establishing stable and lasting peace for normal development in the region.

During the conversation, the contribution of bilateral efforts aimed at further developing cooperation between the local bodies and communities of the two countries in various formats was emphasized.