Armenia Hopes Beirut Tie Will Help It Reach Out to Arabs

Russia, Saint-Petersburg
Date: 2004.04.02 12:51

EREVAN, April 2. Armenia plans to use Lebanon as its trading base for
commerce with the Arab countries, the Armenian government’s press service
said in summarizing a meeting Thursday of the Armenia-Lebanon
Intergovernmental Commission attended by the prime ministers of the two
countries, Andranik Markarian and Rafik Khariri, respectively.

The commission meeting noted the existing agreement between the two
countries for an exhibition of Armenian agricultural wares in Lebanon.
Khariri spoke of the potential contribution to be made to the economic
cooperation of the two nations by Lebanon’s large Armenian population. He
also spoke of the importance of Armenia’s help in winning World Trade
Organization membership for Lebanon. Markarian, in turn, declared that
Armenia, a member of the WTO, would do what it could to assist Lebanon
toward WTO membership.