Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on opening Armenian Consulate General in Odessa, the presidential press service reports.

Yerevan and Odessa have been twin cities for over 15 years already. Much work has been done during the past 15 years, representatives of the two cities say. “We are closely cooperating with Yerevan; they help us organize many activities, in particular, the Sunday schools. We have a Sunday school with about 100 students,” Margarita Tarasyan, vice-president of the Armenian community said.

Armenians have settled in Odessa region back in 13-14th centuries, in the towns of Kilia and Akerman. Later many Armenians moved to Grigoriopol (in Moldova) built by Armenians in 1792. The legend says the town was named so after St. Gregory the Illuminator.