ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 26, 2004 Friday

Armenian president satisfied by level of relations with US

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

President Robert Kocharian, of Armenia, has said he is satisfied by
the level of Armenian-U.S. relations. He was speaking on Friday as he
received U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Kocharian and Armitage noted the importance of wider bilateral
cooperation, the presidential press-service has told Tass.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and the visiting U.S.
diplomat were unanimous that all-round development of bilateral
contacts was called to bring about a deeper political dialogue.

Speaking at a news conference following the meeting with the Armenian
president Armitage said that in his opinion the opening of Armenia’s
border with Turkey would greatly benefit both countries. He discussed
this possibility with Turkish diplomats earlier.

Turkey, he said, is currently focused on North Iraq and negotiations
over Cyprus, but the issue of opening the border with Armenia will be
certainly brought up again later.

Armitage said the Armenian foreign minister pointed out that the
amount of U.S. military assistance to Baku differed from that
extended to Yerevan. In reply he recalled that Azerbaijani military
were involved in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Besides,
Azerbaijan fueled U.S. military planes flying to Iraq. This is a
heavy burden on Azerbaijan and our assistance is called to compensate
the country’s efforts, Armitage said.