Armenian leader favours integration into “family of democratic countries”

Mediamax news agency
27 May 04

Yerevan, 27 May: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan
today that “Armenia will continue its way to full integration into
the family of democratic countries, which requires lengthy and
consistent work”.

According to Mediamax, Kocharyan said this at a meeting with the
ambassadors of foreign countries to Armenia, whose residences are
outside Armenia.

“Attaching special importance to Armenia’s close cooperation with
European and other international organizations, we believe that
our country should keep abreast of the modern world,” Kocharyan
said. According to him, loyalty to the complementary policy, which
became the basis of Armenia’s foreign policy several years ago,
has yielded rather serious results.

Speaking about the economic situation in the country, Kocharyan added
that the first stage of reforms had ended. This is proved by the
stable pace of economic growth and good macroeconomic indices, which
have been maintained over the last few years. Despite this, Kocharyan
said, part of Armenia’s population lives on the verge of poverty, and
a solution to this problem is the Armenian government’s priority today.

Kocharyan said that he welcomed the idea of an annual meeting in
Yerevan between the non-resident ambassadors. According to him, regular
meetings of this kind with the diplomats, who do not permanently
live on Armenian territory, “will allow us to present the processes
in the country in a better way”.