Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay met in Paris today and discussed how Armenia could become more engaged in the activities of the international organization and how Armenia’s culture and intangible heritage could be best displayed to the outside world.

The two, according to an Armenian government press release, also discussed the prospect of Yerevan’s Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran) getting involved in a UNESCO project to rehabilitate cultural property in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

President Sarkissian spoke about poor state of many cultural and historical buildings in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, and the possible assistance of UNESCO to preserve such structures.